Abstract

BACKGROUND: Development of a true coronary aneurysm after percutaneous coronary intervention is a rare event, and a coronary aneurysm resulting in acute myocardial infarction is even rarer. Coronary aneurysm formation after bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) implantation, eventually leading to thrombosis, embolization, and myocardial infarction, has never been reported before in the literature.

CASE REPORT: A 62-year-old man received an elective BVS for a proximal left anterior descending lesion. Two months later, he suffered from a non-ST-segment myocardial infarction. Coronary angiography showed a non-significant distal stent edge restenosis over the left anterior descending artery and a small aneurysm after the first diagonal branch. A XIENCE Xpedition stent was used to cover both lesions and final angiography showed shrinkage of the aneurysm and resolution of the restenosis.

CONCLUSIONS: Since a consensus or an established treatment guideline for treating coronary aneurysms is currently lacking, each case should be treated with caution and should be guided by the accompanying circumstances presented during the procedure. Although size, rapidity of growth, and the presence of high-risk features are the main determinants of whether to treat the lesion, the inherent risk of restenosis or reocclusion after use of drug-eluting stents and the coronary intervention procedure itself should also be taken into consideration. However, one must not take lightly a small coronary aneurysm when discovered, as the abnormal fluid dynamics inside may result in thrombus formation and embolization. The fundamental technical aspects of stent deployment, such as avoiding overstretching during lesion preparation, use of balloons shorter than the implanted device, and normal-to-normal or healthy “landing zone” of the device, should be followed.

Keywords: Coronary Aneurysm, drug-eluting stents, Myocardial Infarction