A Rare Occurrence of Central Venous Catheter Misplacement: Case Report

Abstract

Central venous catheters (CVCs) are used in various hospital wards. CVCs are typically inserted through the internal jugular, subclavian, or femoral veins. Subclavian(SV) vein has anatomic advantages such as large diameter, absence of valves and lower risk of catheter-related infection and thrombosis than other veins. Various rates of acute complications such as arterial puncture, hemothorax, pneumothorax, hematoma due to catheter placement, as well as catheter misplacement have been reported. An anterior posterior chest X-ray is usually obtained after cannulation to assess the location of the catheter tip. In this case report, we presented one of the rare form of these CVCs misplacements that the SV catheter was misplaced into the contralateral SV in an 84-year-old female patient hospitalized to the intensive care unit.