Retained Coronary Balloon Requiring Emergent Open Surgical Retrieval: An Uncommon Complication Requiring Individualized Management Strategies

A ruptured balloon shaft during an angioplasty

“…4 Few other cases were reported in which the interventionists failed to retrieve the device; they finally used urgent surgical retrieval. 1,5 Certainly, the rupture of the shaft occurred in our case because we pulled the balloon back before deflation, and this should have been avoided. When the balloon could not be deflated, the operators could have used a second guidewire with a stiff tip, like those used in cases of chronic type occlusion (e.g., GAIA 2) to puncture the non-deflated balloon, and this is the second lesson to be inferred from our case.…”

“…In the two cases, the operators failed to pull back the balloon with an anchoring balloon technique and had to use deep intubation 4 . Few other cases were reported in which the interventionists failed to retrieve the device; they finally used urgent surgical retrieval 1,5 …”

“… 4 Few other cases were reported in which the interventionists failed to retrieve the device; they finally used urgent surgical retrieval. 1 , 5…”

“…Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of complex lesions is becoming more and more developed; therefore, complications related to material manipulation such as loss of stent, entrapment of guidewires, or balloon shaft rupture have become more frequent (up to 0.8% of procedures). 1 This kind of complication could turn into a life‐threatening condition. That is why every interventional cardiologist should be acquainted with the different techniques of material retrieval.…”

Optical coherence tomography-guided trapping of a ruptured balloon with a coronary stent

“…Although entrapment of a coronary balloon is an infrequent PCI complication, it can lead to severe complications, such as coronary thrombosis or perforation and impaired distal coronary flow [3]. Several mechanisms may lead to balloon entrapment, including entanglement of balloon membrane in calcium or stent strut as well as rupture of the delivery shaft [4,5]. The choice of balloon retrieval or trapping strategy must be individualized with regard to patient anatomy and clinical status.…”