Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Saudi J Anaesth, 2018 8 14;12(3):462-464.
PMID: 30100848 DOI: 10.4103/sja.SJA_674_17

Abstract

The prevalence of pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) entrapment in open-heart surgery is scarce with a prevalence rate of 0.065%. Challenges in managing such cases lie particularly in choosing the modalities (chest roentgenogram, fluoroscopy, and transesophageal echocardiography) to accurately identify the anatomic location and cause of entrapment. In this case, we report a 42-year-old man who underwent mitral valve replacement with PAC entrapment discovered on postoperative day 2 and subsequently underwent retrieval after re-sternotomy. This case also highlights the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography by the cardiac anesthetist in aiding the surgeons to locate the anatomic location where the catheter was entrapped.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.