Relevance of type of catheters for central venous pressure measurement.

OBJECTIVE

To compare simultaneous central venous pressure measurements from rigid polyurethane and soft tunneled silicone elastomere catheters.

HYPOTHESIS: There will be no significant difference in central venous pressure readings between polyurethane and silastic catheters.

SETTING

Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in a tertiary care children's hospital.

PATIENTS: Five children undergoing bone marrow transplantation with preexisting polyurethane and silastic catheters.

METHODS

Simultaneous central venous pressure readings were obtained by 2 observers blinded to the other readings and to the type of catheter. Readings were done in triplicate (total of 690 readings). Each triplicate was averaged to 1 data point yielding 115 paired central venous pressure measurements.

RESULTS

No significant difference was demonstrated between polyurethane and silicone catheters (-1 +/- 3 cm H20). Using Bland and Altman method revealed no significant bias (mean = -1 cm H2O) and acceptable agreement between catheter types.

CONCLUSION

Silicone and polyurethane catheters yield similar values of central venous pressures. Permanently implanted silicone elastomere catheters can be used to measure central venous pressure in the emergency setting.