Coronary sinus thrombosis: a potential complication of right heart catheterization.

In cardiac procedures that use access to the right atrium, the coronary sinus is at risk of accidental trauma and subsequent thrombosis as demonstrated by the two cases reported in this paper. The thromboses occurred in the setting of right heart failure and after procedures that involved catheterization or cannulation of the right atrium. A review of the literature revealed only rare instances of this complication, but, with the increasing use of the right atrium and coronary sinus for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, injury to the coronary sinus must be considered.