Comparison of two methods of arterial cannulation in paediatric cardiac surgical patients

To compare the ease of arterial cannulation in terms of number of attempts and time taken to cannulate radial artery, using two different techniques of arterial cannulation in paediatric cardiac surgical patients. Design: Randomized control trial Place of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and National Institute of Heart Diseases, Rawalpindi Pakistan. Methods: One hundred consecutive paediatric patients up to the age of 12 years were cannulated in the radial artery using two methods of arterial cannulation randomly. One group was cannulated using plain cannula while the other was cannulated with saline technique i.e., filling the hub of the cannula with normal saline before arterial puncture. Time taken to cannulate the radial artery and number of attempts was noted in each case. Results: There was a significant reduced mean time to cannulate radial artery in patients with 'saline-technique' compared to 'plain-technique' (135.55 +- 65.14 seconds vs 108.75 u +- 52.84 seconds (p<0.05). Similarly, the number of attempts to cannulate was lower in the saline technique group. Conclusion: Saline-technique to cannulate radial artery is better in paediatric patients as it helps in early detection of blood flashback and thus, successful cannulation. (author)