[On the characteristics of axillary veins and internal jugular veins in pediatric patients].

Background: Axillary veins (AxV) are increasingly selected instead of the subclavian veins (SCV) for safe and successful catheterization in adults using ultrasound echo although quite rarely in children. The diameters and depths of the pediatric internal jugular veins (IJV) are well known but those of pediatric AxV are unfamiliar even to anesthesiologists. We evaluated the diameters and the depths of the AxV and IJV in children undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: The diameters and the depths of the AxV and IJV were measured using an ultrasound echo apparatus (TiTAN, SonoSite) in fifty pediatric patients.

Results: The patients' ages, heights, and weights averaged about 27.5 months, 77.3cm, and 9.8kg, respectively. The maximal widths, lengths and depths of the AxV and IJV were about 4.2, 3.3 and 10 mm and 7.5, 4.9 and 6.6 mm, respectively. The widths of the AxV and IJV correlated well with the patients' heights (r=0.831 and 0.700, respectively).

Conclusions: The diameters of the AxV are about 0.6 times and the depths are about 1.5 times those of the IJV and it seems difficult to use AxV for pediatric CVC from the standpoint of venous diameters and depths.