MONDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- High-resolution compression sonography of the peripheral forearm veins accurately measures central venous pressure, according to study findings published online Oct. 1 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Christoph Thalhammer, M.D., from University Hospital Basel in Switzerland, and colleagues first compared high-resolution compression sonography using peripheral forearm veins with central venous catheterization to measure peripheral and central venous pressure, respectively, in 10 healthy subjects. The two techniques were then compared to measure peripheral and central venous pressure in 50 intensive care unit patients.
The researchers found a strong correlation between the two techniques in the healthy subjects with experimentally induced venous hypertension. There was also a strong correlation between the two techniques in the critically ill patients when the forearm was positioned at or below heart level.
"Controlled-compression sonography is a valuable tool for measuring venous pressure in peripheral veins and allows reliable indirect assessment of central venous pressure without intravenous catheterization," Thalhammer and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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