Ultrasound guided internal jugular vein cannulation in infants: Comparative evaluation of novel modified short axis out of plane approach with conventional short axis out of plane approach.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Central venous cannulation (CVC) through right internal jugular vein (IJV) route is routinely performed in paediatric patients undergoing major surgery and in those admitted to intensive care units. A novel technique (modified short-axis out-of-plane [MSA-OOP]) to improve first pass success rate of ultrasound-guided IJV CVC in neonates and infants is being compared with conventional SA-OOP method.

METHODS

A total of 120 patients were enroled in the study over a period of 6 months. All paediatric patients with age <1 year and weight <10 kg who underwent a major surgery requiring CVC were included. Patients were randomised to either of the two approaches of ultrasound-guided IJV cannulation; SA-OOP and modified SA-OOP (MSA-OOP). In modified approach, the midline of probe footprint was marked with a radio-opaque barium wire that casted a central acoustic shadow on ultrasound screen.

RESULTS

In MSA-OOP group, 83.1% of patients were cannulated in the first attempt as compared to 49.2% patients in group SA-OOP. Patients in MSA-OOP group required significantly fewer attempts for successful CVC as compared to patients in the SA-OOP group ( MSA-OOP: median = 1, interquartile range [1-1]; SAOOP: median = 2, interquartile range [1-2], < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U-test).

CONCLUSION

The use of MSA-OOP ultrasound technique for IJV CVC cannulation results in a higher first-attempt success rate and reduces the number of cannulation attempts.