Symptomatic vascular complications after vascular closure device use following diagnostic and interventional catheterisation.
BACKGROUND
Haemostatic puncture closure devices for rapid and effective hemostasis after arterial catheterisation are a comfortable alternative to manual compression. Implanting a collagen plug against the vessel wall may become responsible for other kind of vascular injuries i.e. thrombotic or stenotic lesions and peripheral embolisation. The aim of this paper is to report our clinically relevant vascular complications after Angio-Seal and to discuss the results in the light of the current literature.


METHODS
We report the symptomatic vascular complications in 17 of 7376 patients undergoing diagnostic or therapeutic catheterisation between May 2000 and March 2003 at the University Hospital Basel.


RESULTS
Most patients presented with ischaemic symptoms, arterial stenoses or occlusions and thrombotic lesions (n = 14), whereas pseudoaneurysms were extremely rare (n = 3). Most patients with ischaemic lesions underwent vascular surgery and all patients with a pseudoaneurysm were successfully treated by ultrasound-guided compression.


CONCLUSIONS
Severe vascular complications after Angio-Seal are rare, consistent with the current literature. There may be a shift from pseudoaneurysms to ischaemic lesions.
Thalhammer
C
C
Department of Angiology, University Hospital, Kantonsspital, Basel, Switzerland. thalhammerc@uhbs.ch
Aschwanden
M
M
Jeanneret
C
C
Labs
K H
KH
Jäger
K A
KA
D017541:Aneurysm, False / Q000453:epidemiology; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006489:Hemostatic Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007511:Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011677:Punctures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D017211:Treatment Failure; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy