Background and objectives: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with lesions of large calibre coronary arteries (≥ 5 mm) and saphenous venous grafts (≥ 5 mm) can be challenging. There are no separate guidelines available to treat these vessels with PCI. Standard coronary stents of 4 mm diameter are used to treat these lesions conventionally but carry the risk of under deployment, distortion of stent architecture and future stent thrombosis even if they are subsequently expanded beyond 5 mm.
Methods and results: Biliary stents (Herculink Elite™) provide a better alternative to standard coronary stents in these patients. These stents are of larger diameter (5-7 mm) and can be safely delivered over a 6 French sheath. In our case series, we demonstrate the use of intravascular ultrasound examination to confirm that biliary stents provide improved stent strut apposition within the coronary artery associated with extremely low repeat revascularisation rates.
Conclusion: Our paper highlights that PCI of lesions in patients with large calibre coronary arteries can successfully be achieved using biliary stents.
© 2015, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.