Retained fibrin sleeve: transesophageal echocardiographic observations.

The role of echocardiography for the evaluation of thrombus formation on indwelling intracardiac catheters is well established. Considerably less well described, however, are the echocardiographic characteristics of the so-called retained fibrin sheath, a sleeve of fibrin that surrounds the catheter at the point at which it enters the vein that commonly remains adherent to the vessel wall after catheter removal. The authors report the transesophageal echocardiographic findings of a retained fibrin sheath following catheter removal in a patient with end-stage renal disease and infective endocarditis of the aortic valve.