Background: Fracture and retention or migration of a peripheral intravenous cannula (PIVC) fragment is a rare but potentially serious complication, and the available evidence remains dispersed across case reports and small case series.
Methods: This study was designed as a systematic review of published case reports and small case series. PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar were searched from database inception to 31 January 2026 for reports describing fractured, retained, migrated, or embolized fragments of peripheral intravenous cannulae. Study selection and reporting were structured in accordance with PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S, findings were synthesized narratively in line with SWiM, and the full reproducible search strategies are provided in Supplementary File 1.
Results: The reproducible PubMed/MEDLINE search identified 21 records, of which 14 publications comprising 20 individual patients were included in the qualitative synthesis. The literature spanned 1992 to 2025, and 9 of the 14 publications (64.3%) were published from 2020 onward. Cases ranged from a day-old neonate to a 76-year-old adult. Events arose predominantly from upper-extremity per
Conclusions: The available case-based evidence suggests that fractured PIVC fragments should be approached as time-sensitive intravascular foreign bodies. These findings support a practical strategy focused on avoiding needle reinsertion and repeated manipulation of the same cannula, together with prompt containment, imaging-based localization, and anatomy-directed retrieval, while recognizing that comparative effectiveness cannot be established from the current literature.