Profunda femoral arteriovenous fistula after percutaneous arterial and venous catheterization.

Percutaneous venous and retrograde arterial catheterization by the Seldinger technique (Seldinger, 1953), or its modification, is a routine procedure in many cardiovascular diagnostic and research laboratories. The incidence and nature of complications after these procedures vary from one group of investigators to another. Reports and reviews of such complications are available (Peirce, I95I; Peirce and Ramey, I953; Odman, I958; Gregg, I960; Amplatz, I962; Venables and Hiller, I963; Lang, I963; Luke and McGraw, I963; McGraw, I963; Kottke, Fairbairn, and Davis, I964; Halpern, I964; Mortensen, I967; Burchell and Ongley, I968; Ross, I968; Braunwald et al., I968; Bourassa, Lesperance and Campeau, I969; Simovitch et al., I970). Temporary arterial spasm, immediate or delayed haemorrhage, arterial and venous thrombosis, embolism, laceration of the artery or vein, perforation of the aortic arch, the development of false or true aneurysms, arteriovenous fistulae, and a variety of cardiac arrhythmias are recorded. Localized wound infection leading to arterial wall damage (Gregg, I960) and fracture of guide wires or catheters sometimes occurs. Lang (I963) in a survey of complications that arose in 11,402 percutaneous retrograde arteriography studies revealed a mortality rate of o-o6 per cent. Only 4 cases of femoral arteriovenous fistulae after percutaneous retrograde femoral catheterization have been documented in English (Peirce, I95I; Peirce and Ramey, 1953; Ross, I968). The present case is reported to draw attention again to this rare complication.