Arteriovenous fistula following central venous catheterization
O. Sato, Y. Tada, K. Sudo, A. Ueno, M. Nobori and Y. Idezuki
We surgically obliterated arteriovenous fistulas in three cases that
developed after subclavian catheterization. The first patient presented
with heart failure two years after the catheterization, and the other two
presented with asymptomatic continuous bruits. The intervals between the
removal of the catheter and the appearance of the bruit were 1.5 years,
three days, and two months. It took another six months for the appearance
of heart failure in the first case. The feeder of the fistula was a branch
of the subclavian artery in all cases. In previously reported cases, there
was usually some interval between the removal of the catheter and detection
of the fistula, and the feeder was much more commonly one of the branches
of the subclavian artery than the subclavian artery itself.
