CASE REPORT article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Neurosurgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1659557
Conservative Management of Asymptomatic Vertebral Artery Stent Fracture with Fragment Embolisation to V3 Segment: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou, China
- 2General Hospital of Northern Theatre Command, Shenyang, China
- 3Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, China
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Stent fracture represents a recognised but rare complication tied to vertebral artery origin stenting. We present a male who was diagnosed with left vertebral artery origin stenosis due to vertigo and diplopia, and who was deployed with a rapamycin-eluting stent. One-year follow-up computed tomography angiography demonstrated mid-stent fracture with distal fragment migration into the V3 segment, but the patient was asymptomatic and managed medically with close surveillance. This case elucidates that rapamycin-eluting stents are an effective treatment for stenosis at the vertebral artery origin. In rare instances involving complete stent fracture and migration of distal debris, conservative management may be a feasible option for asymptomatic patients.
Keywords: vertebral artery origin, Stenosis, Stent fracture, complication, Atherosclerosis
Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hou, Wang, Gao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chuangzhong Li, Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, China
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