Sonographic localization of neonatal umbilical catheters

Abstract

Umbilical catheters are commonly used in neonatal intensive care. Sonographic catheter localization is a noninvasive technique that uses no ionizing radiation and has no known detrimental side effects. It allows direct visualization of the pertinent vascular anatomy, which has previously only been available from contrast studies. Results of 115 catheter localizations demonstrate the accuracy of this technique, which is performed at cribside.