Patient forced to undergo open heart surgery after broken wire left in artery following insertion of stent in Hong Kong’s Grantham Hospital

A 60-year-old man had to go through open heart surgery after a broken wire left in his artery from a procedure about two weeks earlier was found to be “longer than estimated”, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority disclosed on Saturday.

The patient was originally admitted to Grantham Hospital in Wong Chuk Hang in mid-April for percutaneous coronary intervention, a non-surgical procedure to open up arteries of the heart by inserting a stent into the blocked vessel.

The insertion was successful but when the clinician retrieved the coronary guide wire it was found to be broken and a segment was discovered in the artery.

At the time, the clinician considered it unnecessary to remove the wire and told the patient and his family about the complication and a follow-up plan.

However, following a review of the procedure and a study of the recorded video, the hospital’s clinical team suspected the retained wire was longer than the original estimation.

The authority did not specify the wire’s length in its report and declined to provide further information when asked by the Post.