Therapeutic embolization of a thoracoacromial artery perforated by placement of a deep venous catheter.

An 82-year-old man presented with massive external bleeding from the puncture site after placement of a deep venous catheter in the right subclavian vein. Emergent angiography revealed contrast extravasation along the central venous catheter tract due to perforation of the right thoracoacromial artery. Superselective catheterization of the bleeding artery followed by microparticle embolization definitively stopped the hemorrhage. During follow-up no recurrence of external bleeding was noted. Percutaneous embolization using microparticles is an effective tool to definitively treat iatrogenic arterial hemorrhage as a complication of deep venous catheter placement.