Cerebral air embolism is a rare but fatal complication of central venous catheterization. Here, we report a case of paradoxical cerebral air embolism associated with central venous catheterization. An 85-yr-old man underwent right internal jugular vein catheterization, and became obtunded. Brain MR imaging and CT revealed acute infarction with multiple air bubbles on the side of catheter insert...

BACKGROUND There is variation in cardiac catheterization utilization across jurisdictions. Previous work from Alberta, Canada, showed no evidence of a plateau in the yield of high-risk disease at cardiac catheterization rates as high as 600 per 100,000 population suggesting that the optimal rate is higher. This work aims 1) To determine if a previously demonstrated linear relationship between t...

Sedation for pediatric cardiac catheterization is a common requirement in many institutions. As the field of cardiac catheterization has evolved, the provision of sedation for these procedures has been varied. Increasingly the demand is for dedicated personnel focused on monitoring and delivery of sedation while in the catheterization suite. This article describes the considerations one must us...

OBJECTIVE Preprocedure meetings have become more commonplace in medicine but are not performed routinely in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. We sought to create, implement, and evaluate a preprocedural meeting in the form of a checklist for the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Staff attitudes and perceptions toward safety and sense of teamwork were also analyzed. DESIGN All procedur...

OBJECTIVE To analyze predictive factors of acute urinary retention requiring catheterization after (125)I prostate brachytherapy. METHODS A group of 227 consecutive patients with localized prostate cancer were treated with (125)I prostate brachytherapy between September 2003 and December 2004. The clinical, treatment-related and dosimetric factors were evaluated for the need for catheterizati...

During the last two decades, an increasing number of permanent pacemakers have been implanted outside of the operating room (OR) by nonsurgeons. Previous investigators have demonstrated that pacemakers can be safely implanted in the cardiac catheterization laboratory with no increase in complications or infections. This is the first study of its kind to simultaneously evaluate cost, length of h...

Background: Brachial artery spasms may occur during transradial cardiac catheterization. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between brachial artery spasms after transradial cardiac catheterization and coronary artery disease. Methods: Two hundred and forty-one patients who received transradial cardiac catheterization for diagnosis of coronary artery disease were enrolled ...