Very late neoatherosclerotic plaque rupture in drug-eluting stent restenosis

Abstract

A 71-year-old man presented in emergency department for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. At admission, 12-lead ECG was in sinus rhythm without sign of myocardial ischemia, and troponin slightly increased. The only notable feature of the patient's medical history was single-vessel coronary artery disease revealed 10 years previously, treated by stenting of the second segment of the right coronary artery with a 3.0 x 25 mm bare metal stent. Three months later, intrastent restenosis was managed by implantation of a 3.0 × 28 mm paclitaxel-eluting stent. Two years before the present admission, following a non contributive stress test for atypical chest pain, coronary angiogram had found a 60% diffuse intrastent restenosis. The present coronary angiogram performed via a right transradial approach demonstrated a focal intrastent restenosis (85%) with irregular contours. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed an atherosclerotic intrastent neolesion with intimal tear. OCT demonstrated more precisely a minimal luminal area of 1.02 mm (77.9% area stenosis), two wide cavities (length 1.1 and 1.4 mm) separated by a plaque rupture of 6.8 mm. Myocardial ischemia was evenly demonstrated on this artery with a fractional flow reserve under 0.50 after 150 mg intracoronary adenosine bolus. The culprit lesion was treated by a 3.0 × 38 mm everolimus-eluting stent, with good angiographic results, confirmed on OCT.