Entrapment of J-tip guidewires by venatech and stainless-steel greenfield vena cava filters during central venous catheter placement : Percutaneous management in four patients

We present four patients in whom bedside placement of a central venous catheter was complicated by entrapment of a J-tip guidewire by a previously placed vena cava (VC) filter. Two Venatech filters were fragmented and displaced into the superior VC or brachiocephalic vein during attempted withdrawal of the entrapped wire. Two stainless-steel Greenfield filters remained in place and intact. Fluoroscopically guided extraction of both wires entrapped by Greenfield filters was successfully performed in the angiography suite.