Ultrasound-Guided Femoral Arterial Cannulation in Neonates Undergoing Cardiac Surgery or Catheterization: Comparison of 0.014-Inch Floppy Versus 0.019-Inch Straight Guidewire.

Objectives: Percutaneous femoral artery cannulation can be technically challenging in small infants.

Design: We designed a prospective randomized trial to compare the use of two different guidewires for femoral arterial cannulation in neonates undergoing cardiac surgery or catheterization. Settings: Cardiac ICU in a university hospital. Patients: One-hundred twenty-four children were enrolled in this prospective study, with 64 being randomized to the 0.019-inch straight guidewire group and 60 to the 0.014-inch floppy guidewire group. Interventions: Femoral artery cannulation. Measurements and main

Results: The study period was limited to 10 minutes at the first site of arterial puncture. The time to complete cannulation, number of successful cannulation on first attempt, number of attempts, and number of successful cannulations were compared. The number of successful cannulations and successful cannulations on first attempt were higher in 0.014-inch floppy guidewire group (p = 0.001; p = 0.002, respectively). The time to complete cannulation was significantly shorter, and the number of attempts was lower in 0.014-inch floppy guidewire group (p = 0.001). Among the neonates less than 2000g, the number of attempts and time to complete cannulation were significantly lower (p < 0.001), and number of successful cannulation on first attempt and number of successful cannulations were significantly higher (p < 0.028; p < 0.001, respectively) in the 0.014-inch floppy guidewire

Conclusions: : Using 0.014-inch floppy guidewire for femoral arterial cannulation in particularly very small neonates provides significant improvement in first attempt success, number of successful cannulations, number of attempts, time to complete cannulation.