Silicone-rubber catheter fracture and embolization in a very low birth weight infant.

A 28-week preterm infant had a percutaneous silicone-rubber central venous catheter placed for parenteral nutritional support. The catheter was later found to have fractured, and a 5.5 cm piece of catheter was lodged in the patient's right atrium. It was retrieved percutaneously by fluoroscopically guided cardiac catheterization without complications. Fracture and embolization of a catheter is a rare but serious complication of central venous catheters, and we report our experience as the only known case of a silicone-rubber catheter fracture and embolization in a premature infant, in which the catheter fragment was retrieved via a percutaneous endovascular approach.