Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Monitoring the Wall Mechanics During Stent Deployment in a Vessel
Published on: May 8, 2012
Use of Wallstent device as an embolic protection device during stenting of aortic thrombus
Malcolm Han Wen Mak1, Glenn Wei Leong Tan1, Yi-Wei Wu2
1Vascular Surgery Service, Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
Blue toe syndrome can occur due to distal embolization from proximal lesions such as an aortic thrombus. We describe the case of a patient who presented with chronic limb threatening ischemia due to a flow-limiting infrarenal aortic thrombus, with gangrene from distal embolization to the left fifth toe, and was successfully treated with endovascular aortic stent graft insertion. Distal embolization during instrumentation was successfully prevented by using a partially deployed Wallstent (Boston Scientific) as an embolic protection device. The reconstrainable Wallstent device can be considered for distal thromboembolic protection during aortic stenting, in particular, when distal embolization is a concern and commercial devices are not readily available.
Blue toe syndrome can occur due to distal embolization from proximal lesions such as an aortic thrombus. We describe the case of a patient who presented with chronic limb threatening ischemia due to a flow-limiting infrarenal aortic thrombus, with gangrene from distal embolization to the left fifth toe, and was successfully treated with endovascular aortic stent graft insertion. Distal embolization during instrumentation was successfully prevented by using a partially deployed Wallstent (Boston Scientific) as an embolic protection device. The reconstrainable Wallstent device can be considered for distal thromboembolic protection during aortic stenting, in particular, when distal embolization is a concern and commercial devices are not readily available.

