Postprocedural sequelae arising from broken fragments of angioplasty hardware are uncommon. The clinical events that follow the coronary or systemic embolization of such fragments can include emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), periprocedural myocardial infarction, and even death. Retrieval can be difficult and dangerous, especially in the coronary arteries.
Various nonsurgical methods have been proposed for the retrieval of broken stent-delivery systems. The novel balloon technique that we used to retrieve a stent and broken delivery catheter has the advantage of simplicity.
