Utility of Doppler color flow imaging for identification of femoral arterial complications of cardiac catheterization.

Doppler color flow and two-dimensional ultrasonographic images of the femoral region were obtained in 25 patients referred for suspected vascular complications of cardiac catheterization. Five patients had normal findings, while 23 abnormalities were noted in 20 patients, including seven femoral arteriovenous fistulae, 12 femoral pseudoaneurysms, and two patients with both femoral arteriovenous fistulas and pseudoaneurysms. Operation confirmed the abnormalities diagnosed by color flow examination in 15 of 20 patients. Three patients refused operation and one was not felt to be a surgical candidate due to high anesthetic risk. One patient died preoperatively and postmortem examination confirmed the color flow diagnosis. Etiologies of the arterial complications included percutaneous aortic valvuloplasty (6), coronary angioplasty (4), and arterial or both arterial and venous catheterization (10). Doppler color flow imaging is a reliable technique for identification of vascular complications following catheterization procedures.