A coronary bifurcation lesion is a blockage that develops as a result of plaque building up at or near a branch point of a major heart (coronary) artery. All our heart arteries are unique and have large and small branches that feed blood and oxygen to the heart muscle.
Disease involving these branch points /bifurcations, are seen in around 20% of all stent procedures performed. When both branches of the vessel are involved with plaque build up, treatment strategies using stents need to be carefully planned to achieve an optimal result. Such procedures may also require multiple stents to be implanted with a higher risk of complications compared to stent procedures undertaken in arteries where there is no associated branch point.
In this video, Professor Barlis provides an overview of what these bifurcation lesions are and gives insights into why they are considered a 'complex' type of coronary lesion.
