Double-Guidewire-Assisted Balloon Traction for Removing Fractured Catheters: A New Approach

Catheter fracture is a rare and serious complication of interventional therapy, causing vascular injury or embolization without timely intervention, making the safe and minimally invasive retrieval of fractured catheters an important research focus.

A 36-year-old female patient with cervical pregnancy experienced a catheter fracture in the left internal iliac artery branch during uterine artery embolization, which was successfully retrieved using double-guidewire-assisted balloon traction.

Double-guidewire-assisted balloon traction can be attempted when the guidewire is difficult to pass through the free-floating fractured catheter in small-caliber vessels. The critical step involves advancing a guidewire through the gap between the fractured catheter and the vessel wall to induce vasospasm, thus stabilizing the free-floating catheter.

This case presents a novel balloon-assisted traction technique for retrieving fractured catheters in small-caliber vessels, particularly when the guidewire is difficult to pass through the lumen of the free-floating fractured catheter.