A case of V-A shunt catheters migration into the pulmonary artery

A man in his sixties, who developed CPA at home, was transferred to the emergency center. Since CT images revealed a tube-shaped foreign body in the pulmonary artery, pulmonary embolism was initially suspected; however, this did not lead to a definite diagnosis. Autopsy revealed that the foreign body in the cadaver was a fragment of a V-A shunt catheter implanted about 30 years previously for the treatment of hydrocephalus. Although fibrous adhesion of a part of the catheter to the pulmonary artery wall was seen, suggesting that a fracture of the catheter had occurred a long time before, it was not known when the fracture had occurred. Since no pulmonary arterial obstruction secondary to the catheter or new thrombi, which had been initially suspected, were observed, the cause of death was determined to be ischemic cardiac failure. A fracture of a shunt catheter may be typically associated with some clinical manifestations, which are often found and treated. In this case, however, no symptoms appeared and the fracture of the shunt catheter remained untreated for a long time. This case was therefore considered to be extremely rare, and is an example of how a serious iatrogenic disease could occur.