Abstract
Objectives: Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) need central catheter for various reasons, such as long-term intravenous access, nutrition, antibiotic usage, or chemotherapy. Generally, peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) lines are the most commonly used type of intravenous access meant for long-term use. But, moving critically ill patients from the intensive care unit to the interventional radiology room (IRR), where PICC installation is usually performed, can disrupt ongoing critical care and may be in dangerous situation. Recently, several articles have reported the successful clinical implementation of bedside PICC installation under ultrasound (US) guidance. We aimed to evaluate and report the 1 year experiences of bedside PICC installation under US guidance in ICU by analysis short-term complications.
Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 123 PICCs placed in adult ICU at a tertiary care academic medical center between October 2017 and September 2018. The data were analyzed to identify short-term complications, such as malposition of catheter tip, infection, and occlusion.
Results: Among 123 PICCs, 52 cases were performed in the IRR and 71 cases were performed in the ICU. The overall complications were in 18 cases (14.6%). Malposition of catheter tip was found in 12 cases (9.8%), infection was found in 4 cases (3.3%), occlusion was found in 2 cases (1.6%). Complication rate was higher in the ICU group (18.3%) than the IRR group (9.6%). Malposition was found in 11 cases in the ICU group and 1 case in the IRR group. Infection was found in 2 cases in both groups. Occlusion was found in 1 case in both groups.
Conclusions: The incidence of malposition of catheter tip as short-term complication is higher in the case of performing bedside PICC installation under ultrasound in ICU than in IRR.
Se Heon Kim, Young Hoon Sul, Yook Kim, Joong Suck Kim, Moon Sang Ahn
