CENTRAL VENOUS CATHETERization is often necessary to treat critically ill patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs). However, this procedure can lead to serious and sometimes life-threatening complications, whether mechanical, infectious, or thrombotic. The choice of insertion site can influence the incidence and type of such complications. Major femoral or retroperitoneal hematoma i...

During the last few years I have had several opportunities of testing the value of cystoscopy in both sexes, and of cathe-terization of the ureters in the female. The manipulations are often somewhat delicate and require considerable patience; but once the preliminary difficulties are surmounted, diagnoses may be arrived at which would be otherwise impossible. A reference to the table at the en...

Suprapubic catheterization is an alternative method for urinary drainage that is used when transurethral catheterization fails. Traditionally, inserted large-bore suprapubic catheters may cause fatal complications. During the past decade, we used a small central venous catheter (CVC) suprapubicly in 16 male patients for the purpose of urinary drainage, when transurethral catheterization failed....

T he subclavian approach to central venous cannulation provides rapid access for fluid and blood administration, hemodynamic monitoring, pacemaker insertion, and placement of catheters for parenteral nutrition. This approach is also useful when peripheral intravenous sites are not available due to extensive burns or trauma, or simply are not present because of obesity or vein depletion from pri...

In the study “Is Chest Radiography Necessary After Uncomplicated Insertion of a Triple Lumen Catheter in the Right Internal Jugular Vein, Using the Anterior Approach?” (January 2005),1 Lessnau cites a line misplacement rate of 2%, which was associated with a difficult catheter insertion procedure. All complications were due to misplaced sites, with no episodes of pneumothorax in evidence. In co...

Over the past decade, transcatheter interventions have become increasingly important in the treatment of patients with congenital heart lesions. These procedures may be broadly grouped as dilations (e.g., septostomy, valvuloplasty, angioplasty, and endovascular stenting) or as closures (e.g., vascular embolization and device closure of defects). Balloon valvuloplasty has become the treatment of...

Because all cardiac catheterizations involve the insertion of foreign objects (i.e., cardiac catheters) into the circulatory system, it should not be surprising that a variety of adverse events (complications) can ensue. These complications range from minor problems with no long-term sequelae (e.g., transient bradycardia during coronary contrast injection) to major problems [e.g., cardiac perfo...

Introduction During the last few years, dramatic changes have taken place in the pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory. Improved noninvasive diagnostic techniques have narrowed the indications for diagnostic cardiac catheterization, and the laboratory is now increasingly being used for therapeutic procedures. Concern about the appropriateness of some applications of pediatric therapeutic...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Right heart catheterization is traditionally performed using a femoral vein approach that involves admission, bed rest, and risks of bleeding and hematoma. Recent studies have confirmed safety of the use of forearm vein for right cardiac catheterization. In the present study, we evaluated the feasibility of right cardiac catheterization via the antecubital fossa vein i...