[Pathway of the radial artery located with a small-caliber Doppler probe for arterial cannulation in pediatric patients].

The pathway of the radial artery of 23 patients, ranging in age from 17 days to 10 years, was located with a small-caliber Doppler probe, 1.5 mm in diameter, and the artery was punctured along the pathway traced on the skin surface. In all patients the arterial pathway, including its branch and diameter, was shown clearly. In 11 patients, ranging in weight from 5 to 24 kg, the artery was greater than 0.5 mm in diameter and was cannulated easily. In another 4 patients, all less than 3 kg in weight, the artery under the thin skin layer was cannulated successfully in three of them. However, among the remaining 8 patients, ranging in weight from 3 to 5 kg, cannulation was successful in only two cases. The thick tissue layer, including the skin and the subcutaneous layer over the small artery, was thought to interfere with the accurate location of the artery in the other six patients. Nevertheless, the arterial pathway traced on the skin surface facilitated successful percutaneous cannulation by another method in these six. Visualization of the arterial pathway by the small-caliber Doppler probe was thought to be helpful for percutaneous cannulation, with or without another cannulation method.