Acute thrombotic subclavian artery occlusion treated with a new rotational thrombectomy device.
OBJECTIVE
To report the use of a new rotational thrombectomy device for percutaneous thrombectomy of an acutely occluded subclavian artery.


METHODS
A 71-year-old woman with a history of multivessel coronary disease complained of sudden onset of pain at rest and paleness of the left arm. Duplex ultrasound showed a localized thrombotic occlusion of the postvertebral subclavian artery and another at the bifurcation of the brachial artery. After angiographic confirmation, the subclavian artery was recanalized with an 8-F Rotarex device via a percutaneous transfemoral access; the bifurcation of the brachial artery was recanalized by local thrombolysis (50 mg rtPA) because the thrombectomy device was too short to reach the occlusion. Follow-up examinations up to 1 year have shown normalized perfusion of the left arm.


CONCLUSIONS
This new thrombectomy device is a useful tool for the percutaneous treatment of acute occlusion in the brachiocephalic arteries.
Zeller
Thomas
T
Department of Angiology, Herz-Zentrum Bad Krozingen, Germany. thomas.zeller@herzzentrum.de
Frank
Ulrich
U
Bürgelin
Karlheinz
K
Sinn
Lutz
L
Horn
Barbara
B
Roskamm
Helmut
H
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013349:Subclavian Steal Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D017131:Thrombectomy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex