Port-A-Cath Catheter Embolization to Distal Pulmonary Artery Branches: Two Tailored Percutaneous Retrieval Approaches.

Several types of intravascular devices and catheters are frequently used for long-term drug therapy, especially for oncological patients. As a result, complications are becoming increasingly common, namely catheter embolization. Retrieving these devices is important, as embolized fragments may lead to serious consequences, such as arrhythmias, myocardial injury, thrombosis, infection, and even perforation and death. We describe 2 cases of long-term drug catheter (Port-A-Cath) fracture, incidentally documented in a routine chest radiograph. In both cases, percutaneous extraction was attempted, yet the procedure was complicated by embolization of smaller fragments into the arterial pulmonary vasculature. We describe unusual approaches in successfully retrieving the remaining fragments. The ideal approaches for removal of foreign bodies from the cardiovascular system differ from case to case, but percutaneous extraction should be preferred in most of the cases. Less common techniques may be helpful in challenging cases.

Hybrid closure of postinfarction ventricular septal rupture enlargement after transcathether closure with Amplatzer occluder.

Ventricular septal rupture (VSR) is nowadays a rare complication of myocardial infarction (MI), but with a mortality rate still very high. Urgent surgical correction is recommended, although in specific cases percutaneous closure of a post-infarct VSR is a therapeutic option or a bridge to surgical correction. We report a case of an 80-year-old woman, with a subacute anterior MI with an antero-septal VSR. Rapid clinical deterioration in a high-surgical-risk patient led us to attempt percutaneous VSR closure at day 8 post MI. A 16-mm Amplatzer post-infarction (PI) muscular VSD closed the defect with intra-cardiac echocardiography guidance, that allowed conscious sedation. Clinical and haemodynamic improvement was immediate. Unfortunately, a small orifice distal to the device persisted, which enlarged to 8 mm over the following days, with a Qp/Qs shunt of 1.9. At day 17 post MI, the VSR was surgically closed by suturing the Amplatzer device to the septum. A residual shunt was evident, but with no progression, being the patient discharged in NYHA class I. Percutaneous closure of a post-MI VSR as a bridge to surgery is a therapeutic option in patients with high surgical risk, allowing haemodynamic stabilization and thus gaining time for a further surgical intervention if needed, improving these patients grim prognosis. Intra-cardiac echocardiography for monitoring the percutaneous procedure instead of a transoesophageal approach, as well as the surgical technique, make this case unique.