Channel length key in percutaneous thrombin injection

(HealthDay)—About 15 percent of patients with post-catheterization femoral pseudoaneurysm who undergo sonographic-guided percutaneous thrombin injection have complications, mainly arterial microembolization, according to a study published online July 14 in the Journal of Clinical Ultrasound.

Jacek Kurzawski, M.D., Ph.D., from the Swietokrzyskie Cardiology Center in Kielce, Poland, and colleagues prospectively screened 353 patients with femoral artery post-catheterization pseudoaneurysms.

The researchers found that 15 percent of patients had arterial microembolization and 0.28 percent had pulmonary embolism. Peripheral arterial embolism did not develop in any patients. There was an inverse correlation between the length of the communication channel between arterial lumen and pseudoaneurysm and the risk of embolization (P < 0.0001); there was a direct correlation between the need for repeated procedure and the risk of embolization (P = 0.02).

"A channel length of 2 mm was the borderline value for which the odds of having embolization complications or not were equal," the authors write. "The longer the channel, the smaller the chances are for developing embolization complications and the safer the procedure is for the patient."