Between a rock and a hard place: Orbital atherectomy for under-expanded stents.

ABSTRACT

Stent under-expansion (rather than intimal hyperplasia) may be the cause of in-stent restenosis. Later expansion of coronary stents that were not fully deployed initially, can be difficult. Atherectomy is one method of facilitating late stent expansion, but too few patients have been treated to determine the risk benefit ratio.