Late presentation of femoral artery complications following percutaneous cannulation for cardiac angiography or angioplasty.
Estimates suggest that less than 1% of patients undergoing femoral artery cannulation, for cardiac treatment or investigation, sustain arterial injury at the entry site. A review of the literature confirmed that bleeding tends to occur within 12 hours of the procedure, occlusion within three to four days and false aneurysms within seven weeks. Six patients are described with arterial damage following percutaneous cannulation. Each patient presented after discharge from the hospital where the procedure was performed. Of the two patients with false aneurysms, one presented four, and the other eight weeks after catheterisation. Three patients, with femoral artery occlusions presented many months after the cannulation. A sixth patient presented 10 years after the initial procedure with an occluded artery at the site of the cannulation. Occlusive problems are probably more common than suggested in the literature. Many of these cases, if they occur late after the injury, are probably misdiagnosed as being caused by atherosclerosis.
Smith
S M
SM
Department of Surgery, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, UK.
Galland
R B
RB
D000368:Aged; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors