Death Due to an Unusual Angio-Seal-Related Complication: Case Report and Literature Review

Angio-SealTM is a vascular closure device (VCD) that can be applied to the femoral artery following cardiac catheterization to achieve hemostasis. Although it has been demonstrated to be superior to conventional manual pressure and to reduce time to hemostasis and patient ambulation, the use of this VCD is not without its complications. In this report, we describe the case of a 55-year-old man who died due to an extremely rare event that occurred several hours after the deployment of an Angio-SealTM VCD: acute complete transverse laceration of the femoral artery that occurred because of the particular fragility of the vessel due to an unrecognized and asymptomatic arteriosclerotic disease. Few data are available in the literature about the incidence of such events, and much more remains to be done to determine how to prevent and manage its occurrence.