BACKGROUND Umbilical venous lines are sometimes complicated with pleural and or pericardial effusion, often due to line migration. CASE CHARACTERISTICS Bilateral chylous pleural effusion without pericardial effusion in a 28 weeks, extremely low birth infant who was on total parenteral nutrition. OBSERVATIONS/INVESTIGATIONS Investigations including chest x ray and 2D echocardiogram showed bi...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Absence of guidelines on umbilical arterial catheter (UAC) and umbilical venous catheter (UVC) use and inability to predict the hospital course may sway the frontline staff to overuse umbilical catheters in preterm infants. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing guidelines standardizing the use of umbilical catheters and its impact on the incidenc...

Cardiac tamponade is a rare but life-threatening complication of umbilical venous catheterization in the newborn. Most complications from central venous catheters are related to incorrect position of the catheter and it is emphasized to confirm the position of the catheter tip after placement in order to avoid possible complications. We present an unusual complication of cardiac tamponade becau...

Umbilical artery catheters are an essential aid in the treatment of newborn infants who have cardiopulmonary disease. However, it is well-known that umbilical artery catheterization is associated with complications. The most frequent visible problem in an umbilical line is blanching or cyanosis of part or all of a distal extremity or the buttock area resulting from either vasospasm or a thrombo...

Umbilical vessel catheterization is a common procedure in Neonatal Intensive Care Units, especially in very low birthweight infants. Rarely, umbilical artery catheters break, and the retained fragments can cause thrombosis, infection, distal embolization, and even death. Herein, we describe a neonate with clinically significant bilateral limb ischemia developing after removal of a broken umbili...

This study compares the methods of Dunn and Shukla in determining the appropriate insertion length of umbilical catheters. In July 2007, we changed our policy for umbilical catheter insertions from the method of Dunn to the method of Shukla. We report our percentage of inaccurate placement of umbilical-vein catheters (UVCs) and umbilical-artery catheters (UACs) before and after the change of po...

OBJECTIVE To describe a case of neonatal atrial flutter after the insertion of an intracardiac umbilical venous catheter, reporting the clinical presentation and reviewing the literature on this subject. CASE DESCRIPTION A late-preterm newborn, born at 35 weeks of gestational age to a diabetic mother and large for gestational age, with respiratory distress and rule-out sepsis, required an umb...

Umbilical catheters are often used in preterm infants as central venous access for fluid, drug administration, and blood sampling in intensive care units. When used properly, they are generally safe but there are various complications associated with the UVC, such as infection, arrhythmia, embolization, and catheter fracture [1–3]. Catheter fracture is an uncommon but very challenging complicat...