Intravascular ultrasound evaluation of a pseudolesion created by stent placement in the right artery

The creation of a pseudolesion after guidewire placement in tortuous arterial segments is a well recognized phenomenon. Intravascular ultrasound has been useful in assessing deployment of intracoronary stents and equivocal angiographic findings. We present a case in which a pseudolesion was not observed until after placement of an intracoronary stent. Intravascular ultrasound demonstrated no dissection or significant lesion; however, there was focal calcification just distal to the stent providing a substrate for the distorted vessel architecture. The lesion resolved with removal of the guidewire.