THROMBOTIC OCCLUSION OF CORONARY STENTS AFTER PROLONGED BALLOON INFLATION OUTSIDE THE STENT

Coronary stents were introduced to overcome two main limitations of ba lloon angioplasty: acute occlusion and restenosis.(1-4) Metallic stent s tend to thrombose, but results are markedly improved with modified i mplantation protocols and adjunctive medical therapy.(5-8) In this rep ort we describe two patients in whom acute stent thrombosis occurred i mmediately after long inflation of balloon proximal to the deployed st ent. We suggest that stasis of blood inside the stent was responsible for this complication and thus we believe that stagnation of blood in the vessel should be avoided after stent implantation.