Superiority of the femoral artery of monitoring. A prospective study.

Continuous hemodynamic monitoring and ease of blood sampling are advantages of indwelling arterial catheters. The use and associated morbidity of arterial monitoring catheters were studied prospectively. Ninety-five percent of patients catheterized had multiple injuries, and almost 75 percent were 40 years of age or younger. Major and minor complication rates were similar with radial and femoral catheters, while the longevity of femoral catheters was almost twice that of radial catheters. Radial catheter-related sepsis did not occur when the duration of catheterization was less than 4 days. Tissue loss secondary to radical catheters can be minimized by immediate catheters can be minimized by immediate catheter removal upon appearance of ischemic changes. Our data support the preferential use of the femoral artery for long-term monitoring catheters in a younger patient population.