ECHOTIP: A structured protocol for ultrasound-based tip navigation and tip location during placement of central venous access devices in adult patients.

Central venous access devices are routinely used in clinical practice for administration of fluids and medications, for drawing blood samples and for hemodynamic monitoring. The adoption of ultrasound guided venipuncture has significantly reduced procedure-related complications, as documented by the recommendations of most recent guidelines. Ultrasound has also an important role also in other aspects of central venous catheterization, such as in the pre-procedural evaluation of the venous patrimony and in the detection of early and late non-infective complications. Recently, bedside ultrasound has been regarded as a promising tool also for ensuring an accurate and intraprocedural method of tip navigation and tip location. The aim of this paper is to review all the evidence about the accuracy of ultrasound methods for tip navigation and tip location in adult patients, and to suggest a structured standardized protocol for clinical practice.

Chest-to-arm tunneling: A novel technique for medium/long term venous access devices.

BACKGROUND: Chest-to-arm (CTA) tunneling has been described recently as a technique that allows an optimal exit site at mid-arm even in chronically ill patients with complex clinical issues and challenging problems of vascular access. METHOD: We adopted CTA tunneling in oncologic and in non-oncologic patients, in totally implanted and in external devices, for both medium and long-term intravenous treatments. We report our experience with 60 cases of CTA tunneling: 19 patients requiring a totally implantable device, who had bilateral contraindication to venous access at the arm and bilateral contraindication to placement of the pocket in the infra-clavicular area; 41 patients requiring an external central venous catheter, who had bilateral contraindication to insertion of peripherally inserted central catheters or femoral catheters, as well as contraindication to an exit site in the infraclavicular area. All venous access devices were inserted with ultrasound guidance and tip location by intracavitary electrocardiography, under local anesthesia. RESULTS: There were no immediate or early complications. Patients with CTA-ports had no late complications. In patients with CTA-tunneled external catheters, there were two dislodgments, four episodes of central line associated blood stream infections, and one local infection. There were no episodes of venous thrombosis or catheter malfunction. CONCLUSION: Our experience suggests that CTA tunneling is a safe maneuver, with very low risk of complications, and should be considered as an option in patients with complex venous access.

Management of antithrombotic treatment and bleeding disorders in patients requiring venous access devices: A systematic review and a GAVeCeLT consensus statement.

Insertion of venous access devices (VAD) is usually considered a procedure with low risk of bleeding. Nonetheless, insertion of some devices is invasive enough to be associated with bleeding, especially in patients with previous coagulopathy or in treatment with antithrombotic drugs for cardiovascular disease. The current practices of platelet/plasma transfusion in coagulopathic patients and of temporary suspension of the antithrombotic treatment before VAD insertion are based on local policies and are often inadequately supported by evidence, since many of the clinical studies on this topic are not recent and are not of high quality. Furthermore, the protocols of antithrombotic treatment have changed during the last decade, after the introduction of new oral anticoagulant drugs. Though some guidelines address some of these issues in relation with specific procedures (port insertion, etc.), no evidence-based document covering all the aspects of this clinical problem is currently available. Thus, the Italian Group of Venous Access Devices (GAVeCeLT) has decided to develop a consensus on the management of antithrombotic treatment and bleeding disorders in patients requiring VADs. After a systematic review of the available evidence, the panel of the consensus (which included vascular access specialists, surgeons, intensivists, anesthetists, cardiologists, vascular medicine experts, nephrologists, infective disease specialists, and thrombotic disease specialists) has structured the final recommendations as detailed answers to three sets of questions: (1) which is an appropriate classification of VAD-related procedures based on the specific bleeding risk? (2) Which is the appropriate management of the patient with bleeding disorders candidate to VAD insertion/removal? (3) Which is the appropriate management of the patient on antithrombotic treatment candidate to VAD insertion/removal? Only statements reaching a complete agreement were included in the final recommendations, and all recommendations were offered in a clear and synthetic list, so to be easily translated into clinical practice.

Educational impact of hand motion analysis in the evaluation of FAST examination skills.

PURPOSE: Increasing pressure pushes towards the objective competence assessment of clinical operators. Hand motion analysis (HMA) was introduced to measure surgical and clinical procedures; its recent application to FAST examinations leaves unsolved issues. This study aimed at determining optimal HMA parameters to discriminate between operators' skill levels, and which FAST tasks are experience-dependent. METHODS: Ten experienced (EG) and 13 beginner (BG) sonographers performed a FAST examination on one female and one male model. A motion capture system returned the duration, working volume, number of movements (absolute and time normalized), and hand path length (absolute and time normalized) of each view. RESULTS: BG took more time in completing specific views, with a higher working volume (p = 0.003) and longer hands path (p < 0.001). The number of movements was lower in the EG (p < 0.001) and differed between views (p = 0.014). No significant Group/Model differences were found for the normalized number of movements. The LUQ view required a higher number of movements (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: HMA identified kinematic parameters discriminating between proficiency level and critical subtasks in the FAST examination. These findings could be the base for a focused HMA-based evaluation of performances following a proctored training period. There is room to incorporate HMA into simulation metrics and evidence-based credentialing standards for clinical ultrasound applications.