How common is it for the femoral artery to be punctured during a heart cath and then need surgery to repair?

1%: Bleeding at the puncture site occurs at approximately 1% of femoral catheterizations. There is a recent trend which originated in europe to perform cardiac catheterization from the radial artery approach. This almost completely eliminates the risk of bleeding from the puncture site.

Uncommon: Femoral artery aneurysm or pseudoaneuyrsm formation at the site of left heart catheterization is very uncommon, less than 1% of cases in the hands of an experienced interventional cardiologist.