A French survey of contraceptive implant migration to the pulmonary artery

Safety and Benefits of Contraceptives Implants: A Systematic Review

“…Pulmonary embolization of the device is an iatrogenic condition that could present with symptoms such as chest pain or dyspnea [5], leading to respiratory issues and life-threatening conditions [87]. Several authors reported implant local migration to ipsilateral axilla [115,116] or to distant intravascular migration in the lobe pulmonary artery [5,90,108,[116][117][118][119][120]. Migration could be solved with interventional radiology [105] or thoracoscopically by removing the implant from the pulmonary artery, avoiding, if possible, thoracotomy or lung resection [117]; in two cases, the migrated dispositive was left in place [120].…”

Incidence and characteristics of intravascular pulmonary migration of etonogestrel implants: A French nationwide study

“…According to Ohannessian et al [14], migration into the pulmonary artery is mainly asymptomatic. In our study, four women had respiratory complaints that had led to several examinations before the diagnosis of migration.…”

FSRH Guideline (February 2021) Progestogen-only Implant

“…Other estimates differ, however. A survey141 of French physicians identified 12 cases of Nexplanon migration to the pulmonary vasculature between January 2012 and July 2017. In the same period, French databases recorded insertion of 1.2 million Nexplanon implants.…”

“…International case reports142–158 describe intravascular migration of 17 ENG-IMP (both Implanon and Nexplanon) to the pulmonary vasculature after presumed insertion into veins in the upper arm. Kang et al 140 reported nine and Ohannessian et al 141 reported seven additional cases of implant migration to the pulmonary vasculature.…”