Surgical retrieval of dislodged stent during transradial coronary intervention.

Coronary stent dislodgment is a rare but serious complication during percutaneous coronary intervention. During transradial coronary intervention, retrieval of a dislodged and deformed stent into the guiding catheter is difficult or impossible, since a small 6 Fr guiding catheter and sheath system is commonly used. I describe a new method to retrieve a dislodged and damaged stent during transradial coronary intervention. When a dislodged and unexpanded stent is not pulled back completely into the guiding catheter, the damaged stent and guiding catheter can be withdrawn together into the radial artery and retrieved successfully by radial artery cutdown and repair method.