A Comparison between Ultrasound-guided Short-axis Approach and Oblique Axis Approach for Internal Jugular Venous Cannulation in the Emergency Department.

Background: Central venous catheter (CVC) placement is a frequently performed procedure in the emergency department (ED). We aim to compare two different ultrasound (US)-guided techniques, the short-axis (SAX) approach and the oblique axis (OAX) approach for the insertion of internal jugular vein (IJV) catheters in an ED setting.

Methods: This prospective, observational study was conducted in the ED of a single tertiary care teaching hospital on patients requiring IJV cannulation. CVC placement was done using both the SAX and OAX approaches as per the ED physician's discretion. Outcome measures included acute complications, successful insertion of an IJV catheter, number of attempts, and access times. The Chi-square test was used to compare the study variables (acute complications, number of cannulation attempts, and successful cannulation) between the two approaches. Mann-Whitney -test was applied to compare the mean differences of flash time and cannulation time.

Results: Sixty patients were enrolled, of which 30 underwent IJV cannulation by the SAX technique and 30 by the OAX technique. We noted a total of 22 acute complications, 56.7% in the SAX group and 16.7% in the OAX group. A significant incidence of posterior venous wall puncture was noted in the SAX group (50.0%). No significant statistical differences were noted on analysis of other outcome measures.

Conclusion: The OAX approach is a useful alternative technique to IJV cannulation in the ED setting. Further multicentric studies in this domain will be required to consider this technique as the primary approach to US-guided IJV cannulation in the ED setting.