Problem with Stent Placement

My husband was having a stent inserted when something went wrong and the stent landed in the wrong place. He now needs a heart bypass operation. Is this a common occurrence or a mistake.

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Current Postings on This Page (2):

• Glen from the UK -- What you've described is certainly not common! Without know the details of what occurred, it's impossible to say what went wrong -- certainly something did. As for a surgeon not being there, stent placement is performed by an interventional cardiologist, not a surgeon. Most (but not all) hospitals do have surgical teams on standby for emergency bypass surgeries, which we assume was not the case here. When a stent is threaded into the artery, it's done so under fluoroscopy (X-ray video) and when it reaches its proper destination, the balloon that the stent is mounted on is inflated and the stent is pressed against the artery wall. The balloon then is deflated and pulled out, leaving the stent. It is understandable when stent placement is not optimum (which is why we try to promote the use of tools like IntraVascular Ultrasound or IVUS) but for it to be so far off as to need "retrieval" is unusual.
Angioplasty.Org Staff, Angioplasty.Org, March 26, 2011

• My husband was having a stent inserted when something went wrong and the stent landed in the wrong place. The doctor spent three hours retrieving it and we have now been told that he needs a heart bypass operation as it will be too dangerous to try another stent. Is this a common occurrence or a mistake by the medical team. A surgeon was not available to assist.
Glen, United Kingdom, March 26, 2011

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