Bifurcation balloon for left main shock syndrome: facilitating the simultaneous percutaneous reperfusion of the LAD and circumflex.

Acute occlusion of the left main coronary artery frequently causes cardiogenic shock and, when this occurs with an initial TIMI 0 flow, has an extremely poor prognosis. The use of a bifurcation system has not been described previously in this situation but has advantages that may result in a simpler and quicker solution then other strategies. This case describes a distal LMCA occlusion, 2 weeks post-stenting of the proximal LAD and proximal Cx, where this strategy was successfully used as a bridge to surgery. Such a strategy may be crucially beneficial in this commonly fatal condition.