Intracardiac stent embolization is a challenging complication in a small infant. A Palmaz stent was placed across the atrial septum in a 3-month-old boy to relieve symptoms of right-side heart failure. On routine chest radiography one week later, the stent was found to have embolized into the right ventricle. The stent was retrieved and repositioned by means of transcatheter technique, without subsequent complications. We found this method to be a viable alternative to surgery in a high-risk infant. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the successful transcatheter retrieval and repositioning of an expandable intravascular stent from an intraventricular position in an infant.
Keywords: Angioplasty, balloon/adverse effects; aortic diseases/complications; device removal; foreign-body migration/radiography; heart catheterization; heart defects, congenital/therapy; infant; stents; surgical procedures, minimally invasive/methods; vascular surgical procedures/methods.