[Percutaneous venous catheterization with contraincision in low birth weight newborns].

Twenty five newborns weighting less than 1501 g were followed after electively installing a percutaneous catheter with subcutaneous tunneling; they were used for parenteral nutrition through the basilic, cephalic or external jugular veins, lasting an average of 10.3 +/- 2.08 days.

[Analysis of the costs and complications of different procedures for the administration of intravenous liquids].

With the purpose of finding the most economical method to administer intravenous fluids, we studied 3 groups of children with different pathologies: 50 cases with peripheral intravenous lines (PIL), 50 with venesection (VD) and 50 with percutaneous silastic catheter (PC). To facilitate the cost-expense analysis, each procedure was standardized to a "PIL unit". We found that PIL is the less expensive when IV fluids are administered for over periods of less than 5 days; even though we had an index failure of 24%.