Stentablation as a Successful Treatment Strategy for Stent Underdeployment due to Calcified Plaque

May 7, 2012 by Journal of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology

Underexpansion of coronary stents represents an increased risk for subsequent stent thrombosis. Rotational artherectomy is now a commonly used technique to reduce the calcium burden in heavily calcified plaques prior to stent deployment. However, once deployed in such plaques prior to rotablation, stent underexpansion may be a challenge and dilemma exists on how best to deal with this clinical situation. In this report we describe a case where an underexpanded stent due to a heavily calcified plaque was successfully treated with stentablation, allowing for full stent expansion afterwards.