title: A method to overcome the inability to draw blood from central venous lines in children.
abstract: The insertion of central venous catheters has become an established practice in the management of children with different types of malignancies for the administration of chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, blood and blood products, as well as drawing blood for various investigations. A commonly encountered problem is that despite the catheter being patent it may be impossible to draw blood from it. We believe this is related to the cut of the catheter tip. To overcome this problem, a technique for cutting the tip of the catheter is described.
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Tawam Hospital, Ali-Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nawaz
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacobsz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Salem
mesh_terms: D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002404:Catheterization; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans