Use of a pull-through technique at the time of port-catheter implantation in cases of celiac arterial stenosis.

In four patients with a celiac artery that was too narrow through which to advance a catheter to the hepatic artery, a port-catheter system for hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy was implanted with use of a pull-through technique. The indwelling catheter was advanced over a guide wire inserted from the femoral artery and through the celiac origin in a retrograde fashion via the superior mesenteric artery and pancreaticoduodenal collateral vessels. It was then pulled out via the infusion catheter access artery. In all cases, implantation with the fixed catheter tip technique was successful without complications.