Republished: Monorail microsnare retrieval of cardiac microcatheter tip embolised to the middle cerebral artery after attempted cardiac ablation procedure

Abstract

We present a case of a 52-year-old man with previous mitral valve replacement who presented to an outside hospital for planned cardiac ablation for atrial fibrillation. During the procedure, while advancing the microcatheter across the mitral valve, the microcatheter was sheared embolising into the right middle cerebral artery. This retained cardiac microcatheter tip was successfully retrieved with the monorail microsnare technique. The patient made a complete recovery without any neurological deficits or evidence of infarct on follow-up imaging.