Occlusion balloon catheter-assisted removal of a wedged catheter fragment without a free end from a pulmonary artery

Abstract

Inadvertent embolization of guide wires and catheter fragments are relatively common due to the widespread usage of central venous catheters. A variety of percutaneous techniques has been proposed to retrieve intravascular foreign bodies. The majority of described methods have been dependent on a free end or exposed portion of the foreign body to grasp, snare, or hook. We report the simple use of a balloon catheter to relocate a catheter fragment without a free end that was wedged into a small pulmonary branch to a larger branch. In the larger branch, the fragment was then easily engaged with a standard snare device. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.