[Embolization of hydrophilic guide wire coating]

The number of interventional cardiovascular procedures has been rising steadily. Such procedures include the intravascular insertion of catheters and guide wires. These devices consist of a metallic core and coil that may be covered by hydrophilic coating to ease crossability and control for challenging lesions. We report two cases where insertion of a ChoICE® PT guide wire into the coronary artery led to embolization of the hydrophilic coating material with occlusion of small intramyocardial arteries.