Frequency and Predictors of Acute and Persistent Femoral Artery Occlusion in Infants with Congenital Heart Disease: A Study Using Ultrasonography for Arterial Access and the Diagnosis of Arterial Occlusion

Alternative technique for femoral access in neonates undergoing cardiac catheterization

“…Cardiac catheterization for neonates and small infants can be challenging. [ 1 2 3 4 ] Multiple studies have indicated that vascular complications increase inversely with the size of the infants. [ 3 4 5 6 7 8 ] Our rate of successful vascular access on the first attempt of 92.3% is higher than published data on femoral vascular access technique in neonates of 88.2% success on the first attempt.…”

“…[ 1 2 3 4 ] Multiple studies have indicated that vascular complications increase inversely with the size of the infants. [ 3 4 5 6 7 8 ] Our rate of successful vascular access on the first attempt of 92.3% is higher than published data on femoral vascular access technique in neonates of 88.2% success on the first attempt. [ 3 ] Although our retrospective study is small and not statistically significant, we feel that our collective subjective observation that this technique has greatly improved the speed and efficacy with which we obtain vascular access in neonates <3.5 kg undergoing cardiac catheterization, that it has value.…”

“…We believe that successful and prompt vascular access will reduce complications in this challenging cohort, where the most common cardiac catheterization complications are vascular. [ 1 2 3 4 ]…”

“…[ 3 ] They reported that most femoral arterial occlusions were reversible, secondary to arterial spasm, and the incidence increased inversely with patient age. [ 4 ] Coarctation interventions that required larger sheaths or sheath exchanges were at the highest risk for femoral arterial thrombosis in neonates. [ 4 ]…”

“…[ 4 ] Coarctation interventions that required larger sheaths or sheath exchanges were at the highest risk for femoral arterial thrombosis in neonates. [ 4 ]…”