Guidewire Anchor Through Protruding Stent Technique and Neo-Stent Channel Formation

Case History

A 76-year-old male presented with sudden onset nocturnal angina. Past medical history included hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. One year ago, the patient was admitted for non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting of the ostial/proximal right coronary artery (RCA) and left anterior descending artery (LAD). Two months after this intervention, re-stenting was necessary due to late in-stent thrombosis of the ostial/proximal RCA. The patient’s medication regimen consisted of ticagrelor 90 mg twice daily, metoprolol tartrate 12.5 mg twice daily, isosorbide mononitrate 30 mg once daily, apixaban 5 mg twice daily, amiodarone 200 mg once daily, atorvastatin 40 mg once daily, furosemide 20 mg once daily and sublingual nitroglycerin tablet as needed. On presentation, vital signs were within normal limits and the rest of the physical examination was unremarkable, except for obesity. In the emergency department, the chest pain improved with sublingual nitroglycerin, but it did not resolve. An electrocardigram (EKG) showed borderline ST elevation myocardial infarction changes in the inferior leads, which were new findings compared to an EKG from 3 months prior (Figure 1). Initial troponin I level was 0.017 ng/mL (reference range: 0.00-0.03 ng/mL). Given the presentation of new-onset angina, history of prior revascularization with in-stent thrombosis, and dynamic EKG changes, the patient was diagnosed with high-risk NSTEMI. He was treated with an oral loading dose of aspirin 324 mg and started on an infusion of unfractionated heparin in preparation for urgent PCI.