Postmortem angiography of catheter-induced pulmonary artery perforation.

ABSTRACT

A case of pulmonary artery perforation by the placement of a balloon-tipped, flow-directed (Swan-Ganz) catheter, as demonstrated postmortem by angiography and confirmed by conventional autopsy method, is reported. Angiography is an effective adjunctive modality in the postmortem diagnosis and localization of pulmonary artery perforation. In cases of suspected catheter-induced pulmonary artery perforation and death, postmortem angiography may prove useful to the forensic pathologist.