Placement of an umbilical venous or arterial catheter can be helpful in the management of a newborn infant who is critically ill.
Patient selection: critically-ill newborn
Indications for placement of a catheter:
(1) prematurity
(2) occurrence of increasing oxygen requirements
(3) need to monitor blood pressure or central venous pressure
(4) need for repeated blood gas measurements
(5) fluid and nutritional support
(6) administration of multiple medications and/or infusions
(7) exchange transfusion
(8) peripheral vascular access cannot be obtained
An umbilical catheter is not indicated solely for infusion of routine fluids that can be administered by another route.
Packed red blood cells can be infused through a venous catheter but not through an arterial catheter.
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Specialty: Cardiology, Pedatrics
