Venous thrombosis in patients after intracardial catheter interventions: incidence, risk factors, special aspects of the diagnosis

Rationale: Thrombosis of the puncture site in the femoral veins is one of the potentially dangerous complications of intracardial catheter interventions associated with thromboembolic risk related to its proximal location. According to the literature, the incidence of symptomatic venous thrombosis (VT) is 1–3%. No special studies on the assessment of risk factors for this complication, its diagnosis and treatment have been conducted.Aim: To study the incidence, risk factors and special aspects of VT diagnosis in patients undergoing intracardial electrophysiological studies (EFI) and/or catheter ablation.Materials and methods: This prospective study included 408 patients (194 men and 214 women, with median age of 51±10.1 years), who were admitted to the hospital with various cardiac rhythm disorders for intracardial EFIs and/or catheter ablations from 2016 to 2018. Before the interventions, in addition to common laboratory and instrumental work-up, all the patients underwent ultrasound duplex scanning (USDS) of the iliac-femoral segment; in 269 patients the level of D-dimer was measured. Latest at 24 hours after the intervention, all patients underwent a control ultrasound scan of the femoral vein puncture site. In case of VT occurrence anticoagulant therapy was started in all patients and they were followed up till complete VT resolution and at least for 3 months (the study endpoint). The VT incidence and its risk factors including the prognostic value of D-dimer levels were evaluated.Results: The VT incidence after catheter interventions was 11.7% (n=48). There was a significant correlation between VT occurrence and such risk factors as diabetes mellitus (p=0.001) and obesity (p<0.001). No association between elevated baseline D-dimer values (>500 ng/mL) and subsequent VT development was found (p>0.05). The quartile analysis revealed an association between baseline D-dimer levels exceeding 434 ng/mL (which corresponds to the range of 75 to 100%) and the presence of the following risk factors: age over 65 years (p<0.001), female gender (p=0.001), arterial hypertension (p=0.003), chronic coronary heart disease (p=0.044).Conclusion: In this study, all VTs (11.7%) detected after catheter transvenous interventions by USDS were asymptomatic. VTs were most frequent in patients with diabetes mellitus and obesity. D-dimer had no predictive value in the development of VT; however, its increased baseline values were more common in women, patients over 65 years, and in patients with arterial hypertension and chronic coronary heart disease