Clinical value of intravascular ultrasound in diagnosing stent fracture: report of two cases with literature review / 介入放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Stent fracture has been implicated as a cause of drug-eluting stent failure. The authors report here 2 cases with stent fractures which were diagnosed by coronary artery angiography and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). Both of them received multiple-stent-implantation. Five stent fractures altogether were detected in two patients. All the involved stents were sirolimus-eluting ones. Angiographic study showed that three stent fractures were complete transverse linear fracture with stent displacement. IVUS demonstrated that three stent fractures were complete break and two were partial break. One fracture was located close to the overlapping site of two stents and another fracture was accompanied by the formation of a coronary aneurysm. Angiography and IVUS are helpful to identify stent fracture. In addition, IVUS is more likely to clarify the cause of stent failure as well as the mechanism of stent fracture.