Keeping central venous lines open: a prospective comparison of heparin, vitamin C and sodium chloride sealing solutions in medical patients.

Objective: To prevent catheter occlusion, intermittently used central venous catheters are frequently sealed with vitamin C solution or heparin solution between use. The present study was designed to test the effectiveness of this approach and to compare the efficiency of sealing solutions.

Design And Setting: Prospective randomized study performed on a 9-bed medical ICU and on medical wards of an academic tertiary care center.