NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Neonatal placement of umbilical vein catheters can be reliably guided by thoraco-abdominal x-ray or ultrasound, but ultrasound more accurately confirms the position of the catheter tip.
Those findings were reported online December 6 in Resuscitation by Dr. Fabrice Michel and colleagues with the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Nord in Marseille, France.
"We now systematically control catheter position using US (ultrasound) in our unit," they comment.
They note that umbilical vein catheters can end up in the liver, or be advanced so far that the tip enters the right atrium or even the left atrium via the foramen ovale.
They add that thoraco-abdominal antero-posterior x-ray (TAX) is most often used to confirm the catheter routing and tip position, but recent studies have indicated that US may be more accurate.
Their study compared the two methods in 60 neonates who required 61 umbilical vein catheters. TAX was used to control the catheter position, and then independent US examinations were performed. The actual catheter route and tip position were determined jointly by senior pediatric radiologists and neonatologists.
Based on this "gold standard" judgment, 28 catheters were correctly routed into a central placement and 15 were adequately positioned in the inferior vena cava. Agreement with these determinations was 85% using TAX and 95% using US, the report indicates.
In terms of the actual catheter tip position, TAX results were concordant with the gold-standard determinations 64% of the time while US concordance was 95%. Furthermore, the accuracy of TAX in defining the tip position decreased with increasing birthweight, the authors found.
"Our results indicate that US should replace TAX for determining UVC (umbilical venous catheter) route and tip position in most neonates," Dr. Michel and colleagues conclude.
"US examination is not available in all NICUs," they point out, "but we encourage NICU practitioners to develop this technique."
Source: http://bit.ly/vsvBpL
Resuscitation 2011.
Last Updated: 2011-12-16 14:28:09 -0400 (Reuters Health)
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![Examples of ultrasound findings and techniques. (A) Images in a 39-year-old male patient with a mass in the left thigh. The mass is heterogeneous on the B-mode US image (compared with the patient in D) and showed increased microvascularity (superb microvascular imaging [SMI]) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) values. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy (with pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in surgical specimen). (B) Images in an 18-year-old male patient with a mass in the left leg. The mass is hypoechoic on the B-mode image, with no other findings suggestive of malignancy. The lesion is in contact with the cortex of the tibia, which is slightly irregular. CT revealed a doubtful anteromedial tibial erosion. The microvascular study demonstrated high vascularization, suggestive of malignancy. Periosteal Ewing sarcoma was diagnosed with both histologic and immunohistochemical confirmation. (C) Images in a 69-year-old female patient with a lump growing on the outside of the left leg. Multiple SWE examinations were performed (please note the high values obtained in the measurements, whereas the color map highlights the stiffness relative to adjacent tissues). SMI showed areas of increased vascularization to target for sampling. Undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with residual leiomyosarcoma in the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant therapy. (D) Images in a 56-year-old female patient with a mass in the right thigh. The mass is heterogeneous at both B-mode ultrasound (similar to patient A) and MRI (coronal T2-weighted spectral attenuated inversion recovery [SPAIR]; T1-weighted pre-contrast and postcontrast imaging), which even shows uptake after the administration of paramagnetic contrast material, which is traditionally suggestive of malignancy. Low values at SMI and elastography are suggestive of benignity. Spindle cell lipoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor in the surgical specimen.](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/08/images-radiol250278fig2.APCFLSvX6p.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=100&q=70&w=100)
![Examples of ultrasound findings and techniques. (A) Images in a 39-year-old male patient with a mass in the left thigh. The mass is heterogeneous on the B-mode US image (compared with the patient in D) and showed increased microvascularity (superb microvascular imaging [SMI]) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) values. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy (with pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in surgical specimen). (B) Images in an 18-year-old male patient with a mass in the left leg. The mass is hypoechoic on the B-mode image, with no other findings suggestive of malignancy. The lesion is in contact with the cortex of the tibia, which is slightly irregular. CT revealed a doubtful anteromedial tibial erosion. The microvascular study demonstrated high vascularization, suggestive of malignancy. Periosteal Ewing sarcoma was diagnosed with both histologic and immunohistochemical confirmation. (C) Images in a 69-year-old female patient with a lump growing on the outside of the left leg. Multiple SWE examinations were performed (please note the high values obtained in the measurements, whereas the color map highlights the stiffness relative to adjacent tissues). SMI showed areas of increased vascularization to target for sampling. Undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with residual leiomyosarcoma in the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant therapy. (D) Images in a 56-year-old female patient with a mass in the right thigh. The mass is heterogeneous at both B-mode ultrasound (similar to patient A) and MRI (coronal T2-weighted spectral attenuated inversion recovery [SPAIR]; T1-weighted pre-contrast and postcontrast imaging), which even shows uptake after the administration of paramagnetic contrast material, which is traditionally suggestive of malignancy. Low values at SMI and elastography are suggestive of benignity. Spindle cell lipoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor in the surgical specimen.](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/08/images-radiol250278fig2.APCFLSvX6p.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
