Entrapment of a looped/kinked catheter in the brachial artery and its successful retrieval during transradial coronary catheterization.

Transradial access for cardiac catheterization is widely accepted as a safe and viable approach with markedly decreased incidence of major access-related complications compared to the transfemoral approach. Minor catheter looping or kinking during catheter manipulation is common and can be managed with gentle rotation, and thus goes unnoticed without complications. Rarely, this looped/kinked catheter can get entrapped and require an invasive approach for retrieval. To our knowledge, there is only one such case described for the transradial approach, where the authors had to use a 6 Fr Amplatz gooseneck snare kit via right femoral approach to remove the entrapped catheter. We present a case of entrapped looped/kinked 5 Fr catheter during transradial catheterization in the brachial artery and describe a novel approach of removing this entrapped catheter through the same radial access without any complications. J INVASIVE CARDIOL 2012; 24(9): 471-472