Umbilical venous catheter (UVC) position in neonates: Evaluation by Echocardiography

Introduction: The umbilical venous catheter (UVC) is the easiest and most use catheter for venous access during neonatal resuscitation. Therefore, the aim of study is to evaluate the accurate position of umbilical venous catheter tip by echocardiography.Methods and materials: we evaluated UVC tip position in 104 neonates that admitted in NICU of hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of medical science from March 2013 to January 2014.The length of catheter was estimated based on Dunn method. After catheterization , at first ,thoraco abdominal xray (TAX) and echocardiography were performed. The information of TAX and echocardiography was recorded. Data was analyzed by MC Nemar test and using SPSS17 software.Results: The sensitivity and spicifity of TAX for location of catheter tip position in left atrium is 36.36% and 62.26% respectively, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value is 16.66% and 82.5% respectively. The sensitivity and spicifity of Dunn metho dfor correct length of catheter that placed in correct position was 68% and 43% repectively.Conclusion:Our study suggest that echocardiography is the more reliable and safe than TAX for the identification of the UVC tip position and also detects complication of catheter malposition earlier, and reducing exposure ionization radiation

Keywords:

Umbilical venous catheter , position , echocardiography , thoracoabdominal x-ray