LAUSR

OBJECTIVE The authors compared the occurrence of posterior wall puncture using the short-axis out-of-plane and long-axis in-plane approaches with that using the combined short-axis-and-long-axis approach that the authors previously showed to be effective in observational and manikin studies. DESIGN Randomized controlled study. SETTING Single tertiary institution. PARTICIPANTS One hundred twenty patients who underwent cardiac or vascular surgery under general anesthesia. INTERVENTIONS The patients were divided randomly into combined short-axis-and-long-axis (n = 40), short-axis out-of-plane (SA-OOP) (n = 40), and long-axis in-plane (LA-IP) (n = 40) groups and received ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization at the right internal jugular vein. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Successful guidewire insertion without posterior wall puncture was performed in 40 patients (100%) in the combined short-axis-and-long-axis approach group, 28 (70%) in the short-axis out-of-plane approach group, and 38 (95%) in the LA-IP approach group (combined short-axis-and-long-axis v SA-OOP, p = 0.0002 [relative risk = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.17-1.75]; combined short-axis-and-long-axis v LA-IP, p = 0.49 [relative risk = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.98-1.13]). Procedure durations were 28.5 (24.1-36.4) seconds in the combined short-axis-and-long-axis group, 31.7 (24.4-40.6) seconds in the SA-OOP group, and 24.3 (20.8-32.1) seconds in the long-axis in-plane group (combined short-axis-and-long-axis v SA-OOP, p = 0.53; combined short-axis-and-long-axis v LA-IP, p = 0.044). CONCLUSION The combined short-axis-and-long-axis approach for ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization had a lower posterior wall puncture rate than the SA-OOP approach, but there was no significant difference with the long-axis in-plane approach.