How serious an adverse event is longitudinal stent deformation? Incidence and severity

The introduction of coronary stents into clinical use 20 years ago represented a revolution in the management of coronary artery disease and percutaneous coronary intervention with stent deployment is now the dominant form of myocardial revascularization, with several million procedures performed worldwide each year. Recently, there has been a marked increase in reporting of cases of stent distortion occurring after initially successful deployment, a phenomenon now known as longitudinal stent deformation (LSD). In its most extreme form, LSD can result in a dramatic shortening or ‘concertina’ of the stent within the vessel and, although still incompletely understood, it can be difficult to manage and may be associated with adverse clinical outcomes.