Effectiveness of the ECG method in the correct positioning of PICC type central venous catheters in patients with atrial fibrillation.

The peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are third generation silicone or polyurethane catheters, used as venous accesses for long- and medium-term care, and recommended in therapies that require venous access for more than six days. Current implantation methods recommend the radiological method, using standard chest RX in antero-posterior projection, as a method of assessing the correct positioning of the catheter tip. The observational study evaluated the effectiveness in terms of reliability of the intracavitary tip location system (ITLS) method, better known as the ECG method, for the correct positioning of the catheter tip in patients with atrial fibrillation (AFIB); the method exploits the recording of the electrical potential produced by the f waves, expression of the fibrillation of the atrium typical in patients with this disease, the measurement is based on the calculation of the peak-to-peak value of the f waves.

AVATAR®: an electronic evidence-based medicine friendly tool for vascular access planning.

In today's demanding healthcare setting, many patients who are referred to hospital for treatment require some form of intravascular access device to administer required therapies and medications. It is estimated that most of admissions have an intravascular device placed on arrival to any given facility. Often these treatment prerequisites, combined with a wide range of available devices, based upon a combination of patient assessments, necessitated treatment regimens, and the use of a decision algorithm to choose the most appropriate device that provides all the patient's needs, requires a logical and methodical approach during the decision-making process.