Intravascular ultrasound-guided drug-coated balloon venoplasty for in-stent restenosis in pulmonary veins stenosis: a case report

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary veins stenosis (PVS) after atrial fibrillation radiofrequency ablation is an uncommon complication. When it occurs, percutaneous treatment is the preferred approach. There is a lack of standardized procedures, and when stenting restenosis is relatively common. CASE SUMMARY: We present a young patient with recurrence of PVS after first percutaneous treatment. The recurrence of haemoptysis and dyspnoea after treatment in PVS allowed the diagnosis of significant stenosis again in our patient. In the Heart Team, we opted for a new percutaneous treatment, using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to optimize the final result. DISCUSSION: Nowadays, percutaneous approach is preferred and among percutaneous treatments for PVS, stenting has shown better results than balloon angioplasty (BA). Despite this, experience in in-stent restenosis is limited, and there is a lack of adequate and specific material for its approach. In this case, we present the possible role of the IVUS and the drug-coated BA in this entity.