Central venous catheterization in patients with coagulopathy
P. F. Foster, L. R. Moore, H. N. Sankary, M. E. Hart, M. K. Ashmann and J. W. Williams
Department of General Surgery, Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612.
To explore the risk of bleeding complications during percutaneous central
venous catheterization in patients with coagulopathy, 40 liver transplant
recipients underwent 259 percutaneous central venous catheterizations. Two
hundred two catheterizations were performed in patients with coagulopathy,
as evidenced by their prothrombin times, activated partial thromboplastin
times, and/or platelet counts. Furthermore, no attempt was made to correct
these episodes of coagulopathy with medications or infusion of blood
products. No serious bleeding complications occurred during the 259
catheterizations, which suggests that experienced clinicians using
appropriate techniques may safely perform central venous catheterization in
patients with abnormal prothrombin times, activated partial thromboplastin
times, and platelet counts.
