Two‐stage percutaneous closure of mitral periprosthetic valvular leak

Periprosthetic valve leak can develop as a complication of valve replacement surgery and may manifest as symptomatic valvular regurgitation, heart failure, or haemolysis. We report a case of severe mitral periprosthetic valve leak requiring a two‐stage percutaneous closure technique with multiple Amplatzer® III vascular plugs.© 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Hand ischemia resulting from a transradial intervention: Successful management with radial artery angioplasty

We describe a case of hand ischemia resulting from transradial catheterization. This was successfully treated with angioplasty of the radial artery occlusion, but stresses the importance of a preprocedure evaluation of the dual blood supply to the hand before transradial access. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Distal stent delivery with guideliner catheter: First in man experience

Failure to deliver stents is one of the commonest causes of procedural failure in contemporary PCI practice. We describe successful use of the Guideliner Catheter, the first purpose designed FDA and CE marked device delivery catheter in 13 complex cases in native coronary vessels and bypass grafts performed via the radial route to enable distal stent delivery following failure of conventional techniques. We discuss how the Guideliner catheter may be used to facilitate difficult radial cases. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Coronary guidewire circumcision during use of a gopher support catheter: Potential adverse interaction with polymer‐jacketed wire design

Support catheters with a threaded, distal tip may be useful for crossing recalcitrant coronary lesions. The interaction between the Gopher support catheter and polymer‐coated coronary guidewires may, however, result in circumferential stripping of polymer from the guidewire, with resulting wire damage or fracture. We report two cases of polymer‐coated guidewire damage with use of a Gopher support catheter, suggesting that these two devices should not be used together. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.