Side Branch Stent and a Buddy Balloon “Shoulder Lift” Technique

ABSTRACT Coronary bifurcation lesions are some of the most challenging and frequently encountered lesions in interventional practice, representing nearly 20% of all percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures. Quite often we find difficulty in stenting the side branch inspite of repeated dilatations; this may occur due to angulation of the side branch. We postulate a innovative technique where main branch balloon is used to align the side branch stent. This “shoulder lift” technique may be helpful in stenting difficult side branches in bifurcation interventions.