The use of endo-vascular balloon tamponade technique for the removal of a misplaced nephrostomy tube in the inferior vena cava: A case report

•Inadvertent placement of nephrostomy tube in the IVC is rare.•This tube misplacement usually occurs during percutaneous nephrolithotomy.•A non- operative extrication method is by minimally invasive interventional radiology.•We used intravenous balloon tamponade to remove the misplaced tube in an elderly co- morbid patient.

IntroductionInadvertent placement of a nephrostomy tube into the inferior vena cava (IVC) is an extremely rare complication with few reported cases in the literature.Case presentationWe present a lady with obstructive uropathy in a solitary kidney in whom an attempt by the community radiologist to place a nephrostomy tube was complicated by wrong insertion into the IVC. This report illustrates how a safe non- surgical removal of this tube using an intravenous balloon tamponade technique was successfully applied.DiscussionIntravenous placement of nephrostomy catheters into the inferior vena cava is extremely rare complication. A few case reports have been published in the literature. The majority of these cases were removed in the operating room under general anesthesia. Using Intravenous balloon tamponade technique for removal has not been previously reported.ConclusionIntravenous balloon tamponade technique is effective and is a good minimally invasive alternative to surgical removal of misplaced nephrostomy tube from IVC.