Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension is a rare but life-threatening complication of long-term central venous catheters (CVC) in children. However, evidence in terms of potential treatment strategies and outcome data remains scarce. We describe two cases of CVC-related thrombosis (Hickman-catheter) complicated by recurrent pulmonary emboli. One patient experienced a complete thromboembolic obstruction of the right pulmonary artery with normal pulmonary pressures and the second patient suffered from a central thromboembolic obstruction of both pulmonary arteries associated with severe pulmonary hypertension. Both patients successfully underwent surgical thromboendarterectomy with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.
Keywords: chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension; hickmann-catheter; parenteral nutrition (PN); pulmonary embolism; pulmonary endarterectomy.
© 2023 Hanuna, Pattathu, Buech, Kamla, Kneidinger, Behr, Milger, Veit, Nagel, Abicht, Dalla-Pozza, Fischer, Jakob, Hermann, Schramm, Rosenthal, Haas, Hörer, Hagl and Michel.