[Cerebral infarction, respiratory arrest, and coma after percutaneous catheterization of the right internal jugular...

The case of a 76 year old patient diagnosed of severe dysphagia by familiar oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy is presented. Central venous catheterization (right internal jugular) was required for parenteral nutrition. A few minutes after catheterization, the patient developed respiratory arrest and coma and later cerebral vascular accident with left flaccid hemiplegia, with the ischemic lesion being focalized in the right parietooccipital region as well as in the left of the posterior fossa were observed. Aneurismatic dissection of the bilateral vertebral artery during lateralization of the head may be a cause of the lesions presented by the patient associated to arterial spasm or not. In central venous catheterization the possible complications derived from the position of the neck may carry must be taken into account.