Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Rotational Atherectomy in the Elderly Presenting With an Acute Coronary Syndrome: The First Successful Case in Mauritania

Percutaneous coronary intervention with rotational atherectomy is a revascularization procedure for calcified coronary lesions. Coronary calcifications reflect an advanced stage of atherosclerosis. Rotational atherectomy is identified as an advanced plaque modification strategy in densely calcific and non-dilatable coronary lesions. This concept was described in the late 1980s and approved for use in calcific coronary lesions in 1993. It has demonstrated its effectiveness and safety in routine use. However, rotational atherectomy in elderly patients in an acute setting is poorly studied. This case report describes the first successful rotational atherectomy in Mauritania performed on an elderly patient with acute coronary syndrome and encourages the use of this technique to prepare calcified lesions in our sub-Saharan African context.