Abstract

ABSTRACT We are reporting the case of a 24 years old man with end stage renal failure undergoing emergency haemodialysis. His catheter fractured with the distal segment getting lodged in the left femoral vein. Percutaneous extraction of the catheter segment failed and it had to be retrieved through a venotomy performed under local anaesthesia. Catheter fragments in a vein should be promptly extracted to prevent complications such as arrhythmias, perforation of the great vessels and their often fatal embolization to the right heart.