title: Primary and secondary displacement of central venous catheters.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of primary and secondary displacement of central venous catheters. One hundred and two central venous catheters, inserted through a peripheral or a central vein before surgery or in the intensive care unit, were controlled by chest X-ray 5-720 min after insertion. The number of primarily displaced catheters was 27. Of these, the position was corrected in 8. Thereafter, the 83 correctly placed catheters were observed for 4-560 h. The number of X-ray controls was 2-24. The number of secondary displacement was 2, whereas 12 catheters showed minimal secondary displacement. The rate of complication was very low. We conclude that chest X-ray immediately after insertion of central venous catheters is absolutely necessary, but since the number of secondary displacements is very low, daily chest X-ray control is not necessary. We also conclude that the internal jugular vein is the best route for introducing a central venous catheter, since complications are very few and the number of displacements is very low.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002496:Central Venous Pressure; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005268:Femoral Vein; D006801:Humans; D007601:Jugular Veins; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D014680:Veins