Emergency stenting for acute occlusion after coronary balloon angioplasty.

Acute coronary artery occlusion complicates 2-12% of the balloon angioplasty procedures, and despite repeat angioplasty, emergency surgical revascularization is often necessary. We report our initial experience with the emergency implantation of endoluminal stents for acute vessel closure after coronary balloon angioplasty. Nine patients received one stent, and two patients received two stents during the study period. Implantation was technically successful in all patients; there were no deaths, no myocardial infarctions as evidenced by Q wave on the electrocardiogram, and no need for emergency surgery. One additional patient, not satisfying the study inclusion criteria, died 16 hours after stent implantation from left ventricular failure and intractable arrythmias. Two patients in the study group had a moderate creatinine phosphokinase rise during the first 48 hours after implantation. During a median follow-up period of 3 months (range, 1-20 months), there have been no deaths and no need for elective co...