Coronary stent positioning under live IVUS guidance in low contrast percutaneous coronary interventions: The live IVUS stenting technique

In patients with renal insufficiency, advanced techniques have been described to achieve ultra-low contrast or zero contrast percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). However, these techniques use intra-coronary imaging before stent placement to determine adequate landing zones, by correlating them with saved fluoroscopic landmarks. Still, this leaves the operator with a certain degree of uncertainty about the exact lesion coverage, which is checked with post-stent intra-coronary imaging. We hereby describe a novel technique which takes away the concern of uncertainty regarding stent-landing zones and allows for the highest amount of precision in stent positioning, arguably even better than with the use of angiography. This technique involves positioning coronary stents under the live guidance of an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter which is positioned simultaneously, side by side to a stent. This technique takes advantage of all the benefits of IVUS based PCI without losing the precision in stent positioning when compared to traditional angiography. It simplifies the application of low contrast PCI by the interventional cardiology community, while maintaining the confidence in precise stenting. It has also the potential to decrease the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy, hence procedural morbidity, while allowing for optimal long-term image based PCI outcomes. Obviously, it applies to moderate or larger coronary segments, without significant tortuosity. It also comes at the expense of slightly larger guide catheters, which is compensated for by the use of thin walled sheaths or sheathless catheter systems. Finally, radial access is still applicable depending on radial artery size and available equipment.