Ventricular entrapment of a Swan-Ganz catheter: a technique for nonsurgical removal
C Lazzam,
TA Sanborn,
and
F Christian Jr
Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Entrapment of a balloon-tipped flow-directed catheter by atrial sutures during open heart surgery is a rare but serious complication. Several methods have been used to free such catheters with nonsurgical techniques. A case of entrapment in the right ventricle after repair of a ventricular septal defect is presented and a method for percutaneous removal described.
