Use of a pigtail catheter to engage a difficult internal mammary artery

Increasing use of bilateral internal mammary arteries for coronary surgery will increase the number of interventions in these grafts. Such interventions may be technically challenging because of often tortuous and angulated vessels. We describe a technique to intubate an acutely angulated right internal mammary artery that was inaccessible with conventional catheters. Cathet Cardiovasc Intervent 2002;56:489–491. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.