Treatment of inadvertent cervical arterial catheterization: Single-center experience

Inadvertent arterial catheterization can occur during transjugular central venous catheter insertion and should be promptly treated to prevent serious consequences. Although many treatment modalities are available, no exist guidelines regarding the selection of treatment. We aimed to describe our experience with the treatment of 11 patients who underwent inadvertent cervical arterial catheterization and propose an algorithm for the selection of treatment methods.

We retrospectively identified all patients who were treated for inadvertent arterial catheterization at our center between January 2016 and March 2021. We reviewed patient profiles, images, treatment methods, and follow-up data.

Eleven patients were included (eight men and three women, age: 36-73 years). Ten catheter misplacements were in the right common carotid artery. The remaining catheter was inserted into the right subclavian artery after penetrating the right common carotid artery. Two catheters were 5-Fr and nine catheters were 11.5-Fr. Two patients underwent manual compressions, three underwent open surgery, three underwent stent-graft repairs, and four underwent Perclose Proglide closure. Clinical success was achieved in all 11 patients. Primary technical success was achieved in 10 patients. In one patient, unsuccessful manual compression was followed by successful stent-graft repair; the manual compression failed to prevent bleeding, possibly because of the long-term oral administration of aspirin for coronary heart disease. The mean follow-up was 5.4 months (range, 1-12 months). The overall mortality rate was zero, and no vascular or neurological events occurred.

The existing data show that the current protocol for the treatment of inadvertent cervical arterial catheterization at our center is safe and effective. However, the data are insufficient and require further clinical validation.