title: Successful use of a balloon catheter to facilitate guidewire placement in an occluded coronary artery with extreme angulations.
abstract: The present report describes the case of a 77-year-old man with unstable angina, in which the culprit vessel was extremely angulated and precluded placement of a guidewire for subsequent coronary interventions. A novel technique is reported, using an undersized, uninflated and distally placed balloon catheter, which easily facilitated guidewire placement.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Jen Ai Hospital, Tali, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Andrew Ying-Siu
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chung-Li
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Michael Chich-Kuang
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Tien-Jen
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Chen