A Simple Device for Preventing Retrograde Flow of Blood into Intravenous Lines Caused by Blood Pressure Measurements

Abstract

To the Editor: Anesthesiologists often encounter cases where both the intravenous catheter and blood pressure cuff are placed on the same arm. When the blood pressure cuff inflates, it usually causes retrograde flow of blood into the intravenous infusion line, sometimes up to the infusion chamber. To avoid backup of blood, a simple method was previously recommended [1,2]. However, this method is unsuccessful in some cases. Thus, we modified this method to increase the success rate. A stylet (FUJI System, Tokyo, Japan) is coiled twice around a laryngoscope handle to form a spiral before use Figure 1. The stopper of the stylet is removed. The infusion line is placed between the two turns of the coil Figure 2. The device is then sandwiched between Velcro layers. The remaining portion of the stylet is bent for the safety of patients and medical staff. We checked that this method does not impede the correct measurement of blood pressure.Figure 1: First step: A coil with two turns is made from a stylet.Figure 2: Second step: The infusion line is placed between the two turns of the coil. The device is sandwiched between Velcro layers of the pressure cuff. A-P = anteroposterior; IV = intravenous.Nobuhiro Maekawa, MD Katsuya Mikawa, MD Kahoru Nishina, MD Yoshito Kiyonari, MD Hidefumi Obara, MD Department of Anaesthesiology Kobe University School of Medicine Kobe, Japan