In our experience, clotted angiographic catheters pulled back to near the puncture site and severed near the skin will spontaneously clear, facilitating insertion of a guidewire and catheter exchange without repuncture or other manipulation.

Hepatic hemangioendotheliomas are uncommon vascular tumors which present as abdominal masses, unexplained jaundice, bleeding disorders, or congestive heart failure.1-3 Death often results from congestive heart failure despite appropriate treatment with digoxin and diuretics.4 Verification of hepatic vascular malformations rests on selective angiography,5 hepatic scintigraphy,6 computed tomography,7 and abdominal ultrasonography.8 Successful treatment of heart failure depends on elimination of the malformation's left-to-right shunt and its adverse cardiac effects. Present theapeutic recommendations for symptomatic patients remain divided. Treatment options include surgical excision of localized lesions,9 hepatic artery ligation,10 radiation,11 and glucocorticoid therapy12,13, often combinations of these programs are used.