Lower limb ischemia after migration of a coronary artery stent into the femoral artery

Abstract

A coronary stent may be lost in the peripheral or visceral arterial system with an incidence ranging from 0.9 to 8.4%, however, a limb or organ ischemia after stent migration is very uncommon. We report the case of an 83-year-old man who underwent coronary artery stenting at our Hospital's Cardiological Department. During this difficult procedure, due to the critical stenosis of the circumflex artery, the stent was accidentally lost and found at the level of the insertion of the right common femoral on the external iliac artery. After several attempts to rescue the stent through an omolateral and contralateral femoral approach with the hook technique, the right common, superficial and profunda femoral arteries were surgically exposed. The stent was easily removed from the origin of the profunda femoral artery by a longitudinal arteriotomy. Finally, the arteriotomy was closed with a homologous saphenous vein patch. We underline the importance of an early extraction of the stent, discussing the preferable surgical approach to minimize the possible dramatic complications in the peripheral artery system.