Surgical removal of entrapped and broken percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty balloon catheter.
OBJECTIVE
The percutaneous coronary artery angioplasty is routinely being used worldwide for the management of short and discrete coronary artery stenosis. The purpose of this report is to address the potentially lethal complication among the variety of surgical problems in conjunction with this procedure. The case also illustrates the potential pitfalls in the management of CAD.


METHODS
A 60-year-old man had a broken and retained percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) balloon catheter entrapped in the left anterior descending artery and portion of it was lying in the ascending aorta. The patient underwent retrieval of this catheter through the standard coronary arteriotomy for coronary anastomosis without aortotomy on cardiopulmonary bypass.


RESULTS
It was found that the PTCA balloon catheter was entrapped in the entire LAD and portion of it was lying in the ascending aorta, which could be delivered through the standard coronary arteriotomy for coronary anastomosis, thus avoiding the aortotomy.


CONCLUSIONS
PTCA balloon catheter entrapped in the entire LAD and portion of it lying in ascending aorta could be delivered through the standard coronary arteriotomy for coronary anastomosis, thus avoiding the aortotomy.
Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh 160012, India. drjaswindersingh@yahoo.co.in
Jaswinder
J
Singh
Shyam K S
SK
Thingnam
Debasis
D
Das
Harkant
H
Singh
Rajeshwar
R
Sharma
Rajesh
R
Vijayvergia
D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000628:therapy*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000601:surgery*; D004630:Emergencies; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged