Dr. Toshiaki Takahashi, PhD, RN, Senior Lecturer in Department of gerontological nursing/wound care management
Although treatment by venous access is essential in modern acute care, its complications have not yet been fully prevented. PICC (Peripherally Indwelling Central Venous Catheter) is one of the venous access devices that have been increasingly used in recent years, but the occurrence of complications in the real world has not been verified. Therefore, in this study, based on the DPC database collected from all over Japan, we analysed whether the occurrence of complications such as pulmonary embolisation is higher than that of the conventional central indwelling central venous catheter (CVC) using a statistical method called propensity score. The results showed that PICC may have a higher complication rate compared to CVC. In the future, the prevention of complications of this and the criteria for the selection of appropriate venous access devices are urgently needed.
Access the full paper here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38661659/