DEPLOYMENT OF A PREVIOUSLY EMBOLIZED, UNEXPANDED, AND DISARTICULATED PALMAZ-SCHATZ STENT

Stent embolization is a rare but acknowledged complication of placemen t of disarticulated (half) Palmaz-Schatz stents. We report a case in w hich we diagnosed a previously unrecognized, embolized, undeployed hal f-stent in the distal LAD, causing slow flow, and then deployed the st ent where it lay, resulting in improved flow. The literature on treatm ent of coronary stent embolization and on cutting and preparing half-s tents for deployment is discussed. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.