182 PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL INFUSIONS: HISTOLOGIC FINDINGS

Abstract

Historically, heparinized NS has been used in peripheral arterial lines. The use of dextrose in these lines could potentially increase total daily calories in the critically ill neonate. A study was undertaken to examine the histologic effects of peripheral arterial catheter placement and continuous fluid infusion. Teflon catheters (24g) were placed by surgical cutdown technique into peripheral paw arteries of 20 anesthetized pups. Timed (8h) infusions with the assigned fluid (D5W, D10W) at 2cc/h were used, with control arteries placed to heparin lock or infused with heparinized NS. Arteries were resected, preserved in formalin, then examined histologically (H&E stain) by the pathologist (blinded to specimen fluid group). One or more abnormalities were noted in 73% of the 80 arterial specimens examined.Conclusions: Focal tissue trauma occurs with catheter placement into small peripheral arteries. There was no histologically identifiable difference between control and dextrose infusion groups (p=0.8005). These results suggest that further investigation is needed to determine the safety of arterial dextrose infusion and the long term effects of catheter trauma in peripheral arteries.