Dedicated bifurcation stents – Mechanistic, hardware, and technical aspects

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in bifurcation lesions is associated with lower success rate, higher acute complication rates and higher event rates in follow-up. The reason for this higher than usual complication rate relates to the relationship between anatomy, flow, and atheroma distribution in bifurcation lesions. Further, stenting these lesions can be a prolonged procedure and can be technically more demanding. The most common complication is the loss of significant side branch (SB). Main vessel (MV) stenting may enhance the carina displacement and atheroma shift across the SB ostium leading to SB ostium narrowing. Finally, complications, if they occur, are more difficult to manage. Dedicated bifurcation stent has been developed to overcome the number of limitations associated with conventional bifurcation PCI. The main advantage of most dedicated bifurcation stents is to allow the operator to perform the procedure on a bifurcation lesion without the need to rewire the SB.