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[Intracardiac catheter fragment. Presentation of a clinical case]
S Pérez1, M Amilachwari, G Reitich
1Servicio de Cardiología Infantil, Hospital de Niños J.M. de los Ríos, Caracas, Venezuela.
Insights
A 2-year-old girl had a venous catheter fragment in her heart and pulmonary artery. Doctors successfully removed the fragment and closed a septal defect during cardiac catheterization.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Interventional Cardiology
Background:
- A 2-year, 5-month-old female patient presented with a history of ventricular septum defect and secondary pulmonary hypertension.
- The patient had a prior clavicular phlebotomy at 2 months for severe dehydration, a potential source of catheter embolization.
Observation:
- Routine X-rays revealed a retained venous catheter fragment within the right heart and pulmonary artery.
- Physical examination findings were primarily attributed to the pre-existing ventricular septal defect.
Findings:
- Cardiac catheterization at 16 months confirmed the presence and location of the venous catheter fragment.
- The fragment was successfully retrieved using a transluminal extraction technique.
Implications:
- This case highlights the potential complication of catheter fragment embolization in pediatric patients.
- Successful transluminal extraction of the fragment combined with simultaneous septal defect closure offers a minimally invasive treatment approach.
Abstract:
This is a case report of a 2 year/5 month old female patient with a venous catheter fragment lodged in her right heart and pulmonary artery. The patient was familiar to us because of her ventricular septum defect and pulmonary hypertension secondary to the heart defect. Routine X-rays showed a fragment of the catheter lodged in the heart. The physical examination showed nothing more in addition to that derived from the ventricular defect. Her records included a clavicular phlebotomy at 2 months when suffering from a severe case of dehydration. The cardiac catheterization done at 16 months confirmed the finding of the fragment, which was extracted transluminally. The intracardiac extraction of the venous catheter and the simultaneous closure of the septal defect comprised the treatment applied.