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Broken Wings: First Reported Cases of Fractured Angel® Catheters, a Temporary Combined Femoral Venous Catheter and Retrievable IVC Filter Device

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Abstract

There has been increasing use of a novel combined femoral venous sheath, catheter and retrievable self-expanding and collapsible diamond-shaped IVC filter (Angel® Catheter, BiO2 Medical), in severely injured patients who cannot receive anticoagulation. As the filter is not detached from the catheter/sheath, it should be easily retrieved. Outcomes included in large registries demonstrate a high safety profile and a 100% retrieval rate. However, at our institution—a Level 1 major UK trauma centre with 4 years of substantial experience in using this device—we’ve encountered three cases of device fracture and subsequent complicated retrieval dating from Dec 2016 to March 2017. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, we describe the first documented case series of fractured Angel® Catheters and their retrieval.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interventional Radiology, Imaging Department, The Royal London Hospital, 1st Floor, Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BB, UK

    Mohammed Rashid Akhtar, Jimmy Kyaw Tun, Riad Alchanan, Ounali Jaffer, Snehal Patel & Tim Fotheringham

  2. Interventional Radiology Department, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London, SW17 0QT, UK

    Joo-Young Chun

  3. Department of Anaesthesia, The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BB, UK

    Nicholas Bunker

Authors
  1. Mohammed Rashid Akhtar
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  2. Jimmy Kyaw Tun
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  3. Riad Alchanan
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  4. Ounali Jaffer
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  5. Snehal Patel
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  6. Joo-Young Chun
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  7. Nicholas Bunker
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  8. Tim Fotheringham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammed Rashid Akhtar.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Nicholas Bunker received an honorarium from BiO2 Medical in 2014 for his time spent acquiring and entering patient data into the European Angel Catheter Registry. On behalf of the remaining authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Ethical approval is not required as this is a case report.

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Akhtar, M.R., Tun, J.K., Alchanan, R. et al. Broken Wings: First Reported Cases of Fractured Angel® Catheters, a Temporary Combined Femoral Venous Catheter and Retrievable IVC Filter Device. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 41, 1128–1133 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-018-1927-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-018-1927-y

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