Umbilical vein catheterization in very-low-birth-weight or low-birth-weight children

Abstract

Objective To probe the application of umbilical vein catheterization among the verylow-birth-weight or the low-birth-weight children.Methods In this retrospective study,the clinical condition of the very-low-birth-weight or the low-birth-weight infants in neonatal intensive care unit who had umbilical vein catheterization from June 2011 to January 2013 was concluded.Results Sixty-three cases were successfully catheterized,of which 41 cases were catheterized in inferior vena cava(65.1％).The retention time was 4 to 21 days,with an average of 12.9 days.Eleven cases suffered unplanned extubation of the indwelling catheters,and eight of them were located in the umbilical vein.There were statistically significant differences of unplanned extubation rates among different location of the catheters (x2 =8.38,P ＜ 0.01).All cases were intubated within 36 hours after birth,and the intubation time was not positively correlated to the success rate of catheterization in the inferior vena cava (x2 =0.223,P ＞ 0.1).Suspected catheter-related infections occurred in 5 cases and the infection rate was 6.2/1000 per intravascular catheter day.After extubation,bacterial cultures of the tips of the catheters and blood were arranged.The results suggest that the bacterial culture of the catheter tip was positive in only 1 case(1.6％),and yeast-like fungus was positive in 1 case (1.6％),while the retention time and incidence of catheter-related infection had no significant corelation(x2 =0.075,P ＞ 0.95).Conclusion Umbilical vein catheterization could be used at the early stage in preterm (very) low-birth-weight infants. Key words: Umbilical vein catheterization; Very low birth weight infant; Infant, premature