Abstract
Aspiration thrombectomy is often performed in patients with acute
myocardial infarction with high thrombus burden. Current guidelines,
however, recommend against it because of stroke risk. We report a case
of embolic stroke complicating coronary thrombus aspiration in a
62-year-old man. Aspiration thrombectomy during percutaneous coronary
intervention migrated thrombus to the proximal right coronary artery
(RCA), and the thrombus was subsequently released into the aorta by
backflow of the contrast injection causing aspiration
thrombectomy-associated stroke. This is an extremely rare mechanism by
which complications arise from failed aspiration thrombectomy.