A novel use of cutting balloon in treating coronary artery dissection that developed during PCI.

We describe 2 cases that indicate the Cutting Balloon could become a new alternative to treat flow-limiting coronary artery dissections by incising the intimal flap under intravascular ultrasound guidance. The mechanism is to create communications between true lumen and false lumen. In the first case, restoration of distal flow by Cutting Balloon enabled us to avoid extension of the dissection to the distal segment and to determine the exact location for optimal coronary stent deployment. In the second case, bail-out with the Cutting Balloon was very beneficial because the vessel was too small for stent deployment in terms of long-term patency.