Effect of the continuous administration of fat emulsion on the infiltration of intravenous lines in infants receiving peripheral parenteral nutrition solutions.

Animal data and anecdotal human experience suggest that vascular damage induced by the infusion of dextrose/amino acid solutions may be ameliorated by the concomitant administration of fat emulsion. We prospectively evaluated the effect of the continuous infusion of peripheral nutrition solutions with and without fat emulsion on the incidence of, probability of, and time to infiltration of peripheral venous lines in infants (median age: 1.0 month; range 1 day-11.9 months). Ninety-seven peripheral venous lines were studied in 53 infants who received 10% dextrose (n = 34), 10% dextrose/2% amino acids (n = 30), or 10% dextrose/2% amino acids/fat emulsion (n = 33). Solutions were administered by positive pressure infusion devices through Teflon catheters with similar gauge. Dextrose, amino acid, electrolyte, and mineral content was standardized for the dextrose/amino acid and dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion groups. The three groups were similar with respect to age, race, gender, weight, administration of intravenous medications, and catheter site (p greater than 0.05). Patients receiving dextrose/amino acid or dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion had greater rates of solution administration than those receiving dextrose alone (p less than 0.002). Infiltration occurred in 71% of dextrose, 66% of dextrose/amino acid, and 67% of dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion solutions (p greater than 0.05). The probability of infiltration was greater for infants receiving dextrose/amino acid than for those receiving either dextrose or dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion (p = 0.01). The mean +/- SEM length of time the intravenous sites were viable was significantly shorter for the dextrose/amino acid solutions (26.3 +/- 3.3 hr) compared to the dextrose (54.9 +/- 7.8 hr) and dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion (43.6 +/- 4.2 hr) groups. No site complications were associated with the infiltration of any solution. We conclude that the incidence of infiltration among the three solution groups studied is not different. However, the time to infiltration is prolonged and the probability of infiltration is decreased following the infusion of either dextrose alone or dextrose/amino acid/fat emulsion solutions when compared to the administration of dextrose/amino acid solutions without concomitant fat emulsion infusion.