Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Sep 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyCentral or Peripheral Catheters for Initial Venous Access of ICU Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
The vast majority of ICU patients require some form of venous access. There are no evidenced-based guidelines concerning the use of either central or peripheral venous catheters, despite very different complications. It remains unknown which to insert in ICU patients. We investigated the rate of catheter-related insertion or maintenance complications in two strategies: one favoring the central venous catheters and the other peripheral venous catheters. ⋯ In ICU patients with equal central or peripheral venous access requirement, central venous catheters should preferably be inserted: a strategy associated with less major complications.