The Direct and Indirect Costs of Ultrasound-Guided Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Repositioning at a Large Academic Medical Center

Comparing the accuracy and complications of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placement using fluoroscopic and the blind pushing technique

INTRODUCTION

Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) offer a convenient long-term intravenous access option. Different methods exist for insertion including the use of continuous fluoroscopy for guidance, or bedside insertion techniques. The blind pushing technique is a bedside approach which involves advancing a PICC through the access sheath without imaging guidance, before taking a mobile chest radiograph to confirm tip position. Obtaining optimal position is a critical aim of PICC placement as malpositioned lines have been associated with higher complications including death. We aimed to assess the accuracy of PICC placement by comparing the tip position and complications for lines placed under fluoroscopic guidance to those placed without fluoroscopic guidance.

METHODS

The Radiology Information System was used to identify 100 continuous PICC insertions in each group (fluoroscopic and blind pushing) between 1 January and 12 May 2019. Patients were excluded if there was a known history of central venous occlusion/stenosis.

RESULTS

In the fluoroscopic-guided group, 0% of the lines were malpositioned compared with 60% of the lines placed using the blind pushing technique, P < 0.001. Fluoroscopic-guided PICC insertions were in place for a total of 2446 days and demonstrated 6 complications (2.45 complications per 1000 catheter days). This compared with blind pushing technique PICC insertions which were in place for a total of 1521 days and demonstrated 18 complications (11.83 complications per 1000 catheter days), P = 0.004.

CONCLUSION

The use of fluoroscopy for PICC placement leads to significant improvements in tip accuracy than for PICCs placed using the blind pushing technique. While the use of these imaging resources incurs cost and time, these factors should be balanced in order to offer patients the safest and most accurate method of line insertion.

Diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease by Three-Dimensional Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Combined with Augmented Reality Medical Technology

Chronic kidney disease is a worldwide clinical and public health problem. As a risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the disease has gradually become one of the causes of morbidity and death. As a routine method of screening for kidney disease, ultrasound is very important in improving the rate of early detection and accuracy of chronic kidney disease. This article explores the value of applying 3D ultrasound in conjunction with augmented reality medical technology in chronic kidney disease, observing changes in kidney tumor at different stages with percutaneous 3D ultrasound in patients with chronic kidney disease. Volunteers with chronic kidney disease were selected for this experiment. Among them, 160 males and 140 females were diagnosed as chronic kidney disease by clinical or renal pathological biopsy, and they all met the K/DOQI diagnostic criteria for chronic kidney disease. The selected subjects met the criteria and were divided into 5 groups, each with 60 patients, to explore the correlation of properties such as three-dimensional ultrasound kidney volume in different stages of chronic kidney disease. Experiments have shown that, with the increase in the stages of chronic kidney disease, the elasticity and volume of the renal parenchyma decrease, and the resistance index of the renal artery becomes larger, P < 0.05; the difference is statistically significant, indicating that the elasticity of the renal parenchyma is associated with chronic kidney disease. The stage is negatively correlated, and the resistance index of the renal artery is positively correlated with the stage of chronic kidney disease. That is, as the stage of chronic kidney disease increases, the three-dimensional volume of the kidney shows a decreasing trend and the resistance index of the renal artery shows an increasing trend. Speed shows a declining trend and there is some correlation between the three.

Comparative Anesthesia Effect of Brachial Plexus Block Based on Smart Electronic Medical Ultrasound-Guided Positioning and Traditional Anatomical Positioning

With the intensification of population aging, the improvement of visualization technology, and the concept of accelerated rehabilitation surgery, the anesthesia method of upper extremity surgery is gradually changing. However, these methods are often caused by anatomical variations and often have low block success rates and patient satisfaction. The neuroanatomical position should be accurately located so that the puncture needle is right next to the nerve bundle or in the nerve sheath. This is very important for implementing accurate brachial plexus anesthesia. This article uses ultrasound-guided positioning technology and traditional anatomical positioning technology for brachial plexus block treatment, aiming to explore the anesthesia effect of brachial plexus block with different techniques. This article selects 120 patients undergoing brachial plexus block surgery for forearm or hand surgery and divides these 120 patients into 6 groups with 20 people in each group. The first 3 groups were treated with brachial plexus block using ultrasound-guided positioning technology. The latter 3 groups were treated with brachial plexus block using traditional anatomical positioning technology. Experiments proved that during anesthesia, compared with the ultrasound group, the heart rate of the traditional anatomy group was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and the average arterial pressure of the six groups of patients at each time point had no statistical difference (P > 0.05). This shows that whether it is ultrasound-guided positioning technology or traditional anatomical positioning technology, it has no effect on the average arterial pressure of the patient at each time point. In addition to intuitive and accurate viewing of needle and nerve contact, ultrasound real-time guidance allows intuitive viewing of anesthesia. This is a special advantage of nerve block under ultrasound guidance.