• Jun Takeshita, Yoshinobu Nakayama, Yasufumi Nakajima, Daniel I Sessler, Satoru Ogawa, Teiji Sawa, and Toshiki Mizobe.
• Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center, 1-1 Fukakusamukaihata-cho Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, 612-8555, Japan. t-k-s-t@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp.
• Crit Care. 2015 Jan 1;19:15.

IntroductionVenous catheterisation in paediatric patients can be technically challenging. We examined factors affecting catheterisation of invisible and impalpable peripheral veins in children and evaluated the best site for ultrasound-guided catheterisation.MethodsSystolic pressure, age, sex, and American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) physical status were determined in 96 children weighing less than 20 kg. Vein diameter and subcutaneous depth were measured with ultrasound. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the contribution of these factors to cannulation success with (n = 65) or without (n = 31) ultrasound guidance. Thereafter, we randomly assigned 196 patients for venous catheter insertion in the dorsal veins of the hand, the cephalic vein in the forearm, or the great saphenous vein. Success rates and vein diameters were evaluated by using Dunn tests; insertion time was evaluated by using Kaplan-Meier cumulative incidence analysis.ResultsIndependent predictors of catheterisation were ultrasound guidance (odds ratio (OR) = 7.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0 to 26.0, P = 0.002), vein diameter (OR = 1.5 per 0.1 mm increase in diameter, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.0, P = 0.007), and ASA physical status (OR = 0.4 per status 1 increase, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9, P = 0.03). Cephalic veins were significantly larger (cephalic diameter 1.8 mm, P = 0.001 versus saphenous 1.5 mm, P <0.001 versus dorsal 1.5 mm). Catheterisation success rates were significantly better at the cephalic vein than either the dorsal hand or saphenous vein (cephalic 95%, 95% CI 89% to 100%, P <0.001 versus dorsal 69%, 95% CI 56% to 82%, P = 0.03 versus saphenous 75%, 95% CI 64% to 86%).ConclusionsThe cephalic vein in the proximal forearm appears to be the most appropriate initial site for ultrasound-guided catheterisation in invisible and impalpable veins of paediatric patients.Trial Registry NumberUMIN Clinical Trials Registry as UMIN000010961. Registered on 14 June 2013.

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