Spontaneous pulmonary arterial embolization: A rare complication of the silicon-based peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC).

Srujana Joga, Abhishek Bansal, Vineet Talwar, Sneha J Bothra, Prashantha Dash, Varun Goel, Venkata Pradeep Babu Koyyala

The journal of vascular access 2022 May

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Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) are widely used in oncology for administration of chemotherapy. However, sometimes there may be complications associated with them such as infections, thrombosis and rarely fracture of catheter and embolization of the catheter fragments. Here we report a case of 59-year old gentleman with locally advanced carcinoma of head of pancreas, who had spontaneous fracture of a silicon based PICC and later migration of the catheter fragment through the heart and further into the right pulmonary arterial system. The embolized catheter fragment was retrieved through a vascular snare from the right femoral venous route. This case highlights the fact that silicon PICCs are fragile and have a high risk of spontaneous dislodgement and should be replaced by better alternative polyurethane PICCs.

Citation

Srujana Joga, Abhishek Bansal, Vineet Talwar, Sneha J Bothra, Prashantha Dash, Varun Goel, Venkata Pradeep Babu Koyyala. Spontaneous pulmonary arterial embolization: A rare complication of the silicon-based peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC). The journal of vascular access. 2022 May;23(3):471-473