SONOGRAPHIC DETECTION OF INTERNAL JUGULAR-VEIN THROMBOSIS AFTER CENTRAL VENOUS CATHETERIZATION IN THE NEWBORN PERIOD

We sonographically investigated the internal jugular veins of 40 child ren who had undergone catheterization of the vein (group A: silastic c atheter, n = 24; group B: polyurethane catheter, n = 16) in the neonat al period. The average age at catheter implantation was 43+/-73 days, the average birthweight 2414+/-1145 g, and the average gestational age 34.8+/-5.0 weeks. We performed follow-up longitudinal and transverse high resolution sonographic scans including routine examination of the contralateral jugular vein at a mean age of 3.7+/-1.5 years. In group A thrombotic alterations were detected in 8 aut of 24 patients. In th ree of these patients we found mild clinical symptoms. In group B thro mbotic alterations were detected in 1 aut of 16 patients without clini cal symptoms, Mean birthweight (1815 versus 3313 g) and mean gestation al age (32.3 versus 38 weeks) were significantly lower and indwelling time of the catheters (18 versus 11 days) was significantly longer in group A, Our results indicate that jugular vein thrombosis is a freque nt long-term complication in neonates after jugular vein catheterizati on, High resolution ultrasonography is an adequate method for detectin g jugular vein thrombosis and should therefore routinely be performed for long-term follow-up.