ABSTRACT
Percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy is burdened with a lot of difficulties. Although they have allowed significant progress in comparison with plain balloon angioplasty and bare metal stents, drug-eluting stents have not fully overcome problems of diffuse lesions and small-vessel disease that are so common in transplant coronary artery disease. There is growing evidence that drug-eluting balloons might be a better choice for patients with small vessel atherosclerotic coronary disease and yet there is no experience with this technology in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Herein we report a case series of successful percutaneous coronary interventions in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy.
Subject(s)
Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary/methods , Coronary Artery Disease/surgery , Heart Transplantation/adverse effects , Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/methods , Postoperative Complications/surgery , Adult , Coronary Artery Disease/etiology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Right ventricular perforation during endomyocardial biopsy is an unusual, although potentially life-threatening, complication caused with the tip of the bioptome. The majority of perforations in heart transplant patients can be managed without surgery owing to adhesions nearly obliterating pericardial space. CASE REPORT: We report a case of heart transplant patient who suffered right ventricular perforation as a consequence of incidental extraction of a temporary epicardial pacemaker wire during a routine endomyocardial biopsy sampling. CONCLUSIONS: The patient suffered no clinical consequences.
