Central Venous Catheterization: A Comparison of Procedure Related Early Complications with Internal Jugular Versus Subclavian Routes

Abstract

We carried out a study comparing two most commonly used routes of central venous catheterization ¡e. internal jugular and subclavian vein as regards their early procedure related complications Sixty patients of either sex with ,physical status ASA II, III and IV with weight between, 35-100 kg and age above 18 years were randomly allocated to two groups of 30 each. In group an internal jugular was used for catheterization while in group B, subclavian vein was used. The complications related to central venous catheterization were looked for a period of 72 hours 10% patients ¡n group A suffered from various complications while 13.3% of patients in group B experienced complications Pneumothorax occurred in only one patient in group B, showing that this complication is specific to subclavian route while arterial tap occurred in two patients in group A showing that this complication is specific to internal jugular route. The difference regarding complications between the two routes was not statistically significant. (P value=0.522487).