Peripheral Venous Pressure as a Predictor of Central Venous Pressure in Continuous Monitoring in Children

BACKGROUND Measurement of central venous pressure (CVP) is a reliable method for evaluating intravascular volume status and cardiac function; however it is an invasive and expensive method that may result in some complications such as arterial puncture, pneumothorax and development of infections. This study was performedto compare CVP measurements between central and peripheral catheters in infant and children with congenital heart disease. METHODS The CVP and peripheral venous pressure (PVP) were measured simultaneously in 30 patients within 10 consecutive hours. RESULTS The mean difference between CVP and PVP was 1.48±0.98 mmHg. The linear regression equation showed that CVP was 0.374+0.774 PVP (r(2) = 0.725). CONCLUSION PVP measured from a peripheral intravenous catheter in infants and children with congenital heart disease is an accurate estimation of CVP and its changes has good concordance with CVP over a long period of time.