INCIDENCE OF DEEP VENOUS THROMBOSIS ASSOCIATED WITH FEMORAL VENOUS CATHETERIZATION

Objective: To determine in adult medical patients the incidence of dee p venous thrombosis (DVT) resulting from femoral venous catheterizatio n (FVC), Methods: A prospective, observational study was performed at a 420-bed community teaching hospital. Heparin-coated 7-Fr 20-cm femor al venous catheters were inserted unilaterally into a femoral vein, Ea ch contralateral leg served as a control site. Age, gender, number of FVC days, DVT risk factors, administration of DVT prophylaxis, and DVT formation and site were tabulated for each patient, Venous duplex son ography was performed bilaterally on each patient within 7 days of fem oral venous catheter removal, Results: Catheters were placed in 29 men and 13 women, Femoral DVT was identified by venous duplex sonography in 11 (26.2%) of the FVC legs and none (0%) in the control legs, Poste rior tibial and popliteal DVT was identified in both the FVC and contr ol legs of 1 patient, DVT formation at the site of FVC insertion was h ighly significant (p = 0.005), There were no statistically significant associations with age (p = 0.42), gender (p = 0.73), number of DVT ri sk factors (p = 0.17), number of FVC days (p = 0.89), or DVT prophylax is (p = 0.99), Conclusion: Placement of femoral catheters for central venous access is associated with a significant incidence of femoral DV T as detected by venous duplex sonography criteria at the site of femo ral venous catheter placement. Physicians must be aware of this risk w hen choosing this vascular access route for adult medical patients, Fu rther studies to assess the relative risk for DVT and its clinical seq uelae when using the femoral vs other central venous catheter routes a re indicated.