An Unusual Case of an Incidentally Detected Angioplasty Wire in the Aorta

Abstract

A retained angioplasty wire is rarely described, and there are no guidelines as to how it should be managed. Thus the management of this complication remains highly individualized. In the present instance, a 74-year-old woman was found on routine transthoracic echocardiography to have a linear echogenic structure that was initially concerning for a dissection flap. A computed tomography angiogram of the aorta revealed a linear density that followed the curvature of the aortic arch, which was concerning for a retained angioplasty wire from a percutaneous coronary intervention done 11 years earlier. Because the patient had not reported any symptoms, a multidisciplinary decision was made to defer any surgical intervention.

A missing coronary guidewire mimicking aortic dissection—a case report

“…There are no specific guidelines as to how this complication should be managed. Treatment options include conservative treatment and close follow-up (if the patient is completely asymptomatic), medical treatment with anticoagulation (in case of systemic embolization), 11 and endovascular retrieval or surgical extraction (in case of acute thrombosis, perforation, or embolic phenomena threatening coronary artery occlusion). 10 …”