Abstract
With an increase in the opportunity of a catheter being placed in the central vein, many cases have been reported in which the catheter is fragmented to become a foreign matter in the major blood vessels of the heart.
A 51-year-old patient, after operation on gastric cancer, fell into a restless state and pulled out the IVH catheter by himself, leaving a broken piece of catheter about 15cm long inside. We succeeded in removing it in a non-operative manner.
A piece of broken catheter that wandered into major vessels of the heart, if left as it is, develops many complications or occasionally causes the death.
With the lapse of time after wandering into the major vessel, the broken piece moves from the vena cava to the right ventricle and further to the pulmonary artery. Therefore, it is desirable to remove it as soon as possible.
In removing it, we used a basket catheter. An approach from the right subclavial vein was made for easy removal of the piece since it was difficult to introduce the catheter from the right femoral vein.
Selecting the site of approach carefully appeared to be necessary when removing a broken catheter piece that wandered into the pulmonary artery.
