Central Venous Catheter related Complications in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

thy objective of this study was to evaluate the use of central venous catheters (CVCs) in the Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Sohag University Hospital . We reviewed the records of all children that had CVCs and were hospitalized between 1st of January 2016 to the end of December 2016. Patients were evaluated with respect to their age, gender, catheter type, indication for CVC insertion, site and side of the body of CVC insertion. The duration of catheter use and eventual complications were also taken into consideration. A total of 115 CVCs were inserted in 100 children. Patient age ranged from 1 month to 16 years. The average catheter insertion time was 12 days. We noted 80 (80%) CVC-related complications. Complications related to CVCs insertion were infection(40%),occlusion(10%),local edema(8%),hematoma(5%), pneumothorax(4%),catheter displacement(4%),hemothorax(4%),thrombosis(3%),air embolism(2%) were complications associated with lenght of CVCs use. We conclude that central venous catheterization is a safe and efficient procedure with many complications in pediatric patients.