PERCUTANEOUS RETRIEVAL OF A RIGHT ATRIOVENTRICULAR EMBOLUS

Percutaneous retrieval of a 12-cm-long serpiginous clot lodged in the right atrium and ventricle is reported. Following bilateral common fem oral vein puncture, a Bird's Nest cava filter was first positioned rea dy to deploy immediately below the renal veins via the right femoral v ein. From the left femoral vein, a Cook intravascular retrieval basket was advanced to the right atrium. Under transthoracic echocardiograph ic visualization, the basket was used to engage, trap, and gently with draw the clot in a single long strand below the prepositioned inferior vena cava filter. The filter was immediately deployed, leaving the cl ot trapped inferior to the renal veins, in the cava and left iliac vei n. The patient remained well and asymptomatic at discharge.