Coronary venous lead implantation after an evaluation by virtual histology intravascular ultrasound and stenting of a stenosis.

We describe a patient who developed coronary vein (CV) stenosis shortly (<3 months) after an initial left ventricular (LV) lead implantation with significant fibrous tissue. The virtual histological intravascular ultrasound analysis was useful for characterizing the plaque component of the stenotic lesion and formulating the strategy. A summarized review of the CV angioplasty for LV lead implantations disclosed that CV stenosis was often found in patients who had a previous history of cardiac surgery or an LV lead implantation and that a stent implantation was required to deploy the LV lead in the targeted CV in some (9.3%) patients. ©2011, The Authors. Journal compilation ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.