Central venous catheterization as a frequent routine clinical procedure may have significant complications. Mechanical complications may occur during catheter placement, whereas thromboembolic and infectious complications can be seen during follow-up. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) associated central venous catheterizations may result in early mechanical complications and thrombotic and infectious complications in the long term.

This paper describes a patient diagnosed as mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy requiring long-term central venous catheterization for TPN implementation, who had an infected thrombus on the catheter tip resected by cardiac surgery.