Very late thrombosis in a patient with a drug-eluting stent for intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis

Late stent thrombosis is an infrequent, but severe, complication after implantation of a drug-eluting stent. We report one such patient, a 69-year-old man with intracranial vertebral artery stenosis. He experienced very late stent thrombosis after discontinuation of clopidogrel therapy, about 16 months after the insertion of a Taxus Stent (R) (Boston Scientific Corporation, Natick, MA, USA). The patient recovered well, with good clinical outcome, after the re-initiation of dual antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy. No abnormality within the stent was identified on a repeat angiogram taken 4 weeks after treatment reinitiation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.