A novel treatment of refractory coronary embolism: thrombus aspiration catheter-assisted twisting wire technique.

Coronary embolism caused by the thrombus from guiding catheters is a rare and challenging complication,which may result in serious and fatal consequences due to the loss of blood flow of the coronary artery during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Current strategies for the reduction of thrombus burden include pharmacological agents (typically glycoprotein Ⅱb/Ⅲa platelet inhibitors),embolic protection devices (filters and distal balloon occlusion with aspiration),mechanical thrombectomy and manual or aspiration thrombectomy devices.[1] The above strategies are widely used as the first-line treatments,but have limitations for some refractory thrombus.A few techniques have been invented before to address this issue,[2-6] but they are not always effective or unavailable in some medical centers.