Surgical Treatment of Venous Port Relocalized in the Pulmonary Artery Secondary to Pinch-Off Syndrome Following Implantation: Case Report

Pinch-off syndrome develops due to the compression of the venous catheter between the first rib and clavicle, or between subclavius muscle and costoclavicular ligament, and it is a rarely se- en complication. Due to chronic trauma caused by compression, catheter rupture and embolism of the catheter to the pulmonary arteries may develop rarely (0.2-1%). Successive postoperative plain chest X-rays may be useful to define the compression findings. In order to reduce the risk for cathe- ter compression, a more lateral puncture of subclavian vein or "cut-down" to the cephalic vein must be considered. Pinch-off can be avoided by using internal jugular vein for catheterization. In this pa- per, we present a case of catheter pulmonary embolism developed due to the dislocation of the ve- nous port which was implanted for chemotherapy in a patient diagnosed with colon carcinoma.