Arteriovenous fistula following central venous catheterization.

We surgically obliterated arteriovenous fistulas in three cases that developed after subclavian catheterization. The first patient presented with heart failure two years after the catheterization, and the other two presented with asymptomatic continuous bruits. The intervals between the removal of the catheter and the appearance of the bruit were 1.5 years, three days, and two months. It took another six months for the appearance of heart failure in the first case. The feeder of the fistula was a branch of the subclavian artery in all cases. In previously reported cases, there was usually some interval between the removal of the catheter and detection of the fistula, and the feeder was much more commonly one of the branches of the subclavian artery than the subclavian artery itself.