Complications from intravascular iatrogenic objects and outcome of percutaneous transluminal catheter retrieval: 852 cases from the retrospective population-based cohort study

Objectives: Percutaneous transluminal catheter retrieval (PTCR) has been widely used for iatrogenic intravenous foreign body (IVFB) retrieval. This study aimed to describe patients' epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of PTCR. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in patients who underwent PTCR between July 1, 2004, and December 31, 2011. Their medical data were obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We identified sources of iatrogenic foreign bodies, described patients' characteristics, IVFB complications and evaluated PTCR outcomes. Results: A total of 852 patients who underwent PTCR were studied, including 428 males and 424 females, with a mean follow-up time of 2.3 years. The overall PTCR success rate was 99.6%. Among the patients, 653 (76.6%), 41 (4.8%), 127 (14.9%), and 31 (3.6%) underwent retrieval of an implantable central venous port-catheter, a non-tunneled central venous catheter, a tunneled central venous catheter, and a pacemaker, respectively. Twelve patients (1.4%) had complications due to IVFBs, including 6 endocarditis, 5 pulmonary embolisms, and 1 deep vein thrombosis. Both of the persisting complications, including one pulmonary embolism and one endocarditis resulted from tunneled central venous catheters. Conclusion: We suggest that PTCR is a safe procedure to retrieve IVFB and can effectively resolve most major complications from IVFB. The major complications of IVFB are endocarditis, pulmonary embolism, and peripheral vascular thrombosis, and most of them can be solved after PTCR performance. Yet, the complications resulting from a tunneled central venous catheter were less likely to be resolved and demonstrated the lowest PTCR success rate.