Knotted continuous cardiac output thermodilution catheter diagnosed by intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography

Knots in the cath lab, an embarrassing complication of radial angiography

Most case reports or series describe knots in the venous system such as knots of Swan-Ganz catheters, pacing wires or thermodilution catheters. Knots during radial angiography are relatively rare. Here we describe a simple method of unravelling a radial knot via the femoral route, together with a review of the literature on knots in the catherisation laboratory and the techniques to deal with them.