Evaluation of Dynamic Ultrasound for Arterial Access in Children Undergoing Cardiac Surgery

Objective: To evaluate the effect of dynamic ultrasound (US) on the need for surgical intervention to achieve successful arterial cannulation in the pediatric cardiac surgery population.

Design: Retrospective, observational study.

Setting: Single, academic, pediatric hospital in the United States.

Participants: The study comprised 3,569 consecutive patients who had an arterial catheter placed in the operating room before undergoing congenital heart surgery between January 2004 and September 2016.

Interventions: Dynamic US was used in 2,064 cases (57.83%) to obtain arterial access. Arterial cannulation by palpation was performed in the remaining 37.8% of cases. Surgical cutdown for arterial access was required in 192 cases after failed cannulation attempts by the anesthesia team.

Measurements and main results: Use of US was associated with an overall decrease in the need for surgical access from 10.43% to 1.70% (p < 0.0001). In patients younger than 30 days, US decreased the rate of surgical access, from 19.62% to 2.65% (p < 0.0001). This significant decrease also was observed in patients 1 to 6 months old (13.93% v 3.73%; p < 0.0001), 7 to 12 months old (7.34% v 0.00%, p < 0.0001), and older than 2 years (1.12% v 0%; p = 0.0083). For children between 13 and 24 months old, there was no statistically significant benefit to using US for avoiding surgical access (3.33% v 0.79%; p = 0.1411). Throughout all age groups, use of US was associated with a significant improvement in optimal arterial line location, defined as placement in an upper extremity (73.75% v 91.13%; p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Dynamic US resulted in a significant reduction in surgical intervention to achieve arterial cannulation in children presenting for cardiac surgery.