Inadvertent Arterial Puncture During Central Venous Catheter InsertionSantral

Abstract

One of the most important and dangerous complications of central venous catheterization is unintentional arterial puncture. In the current study, were report a case of unintentional arterial catheterization into the carotid artery in a hypotensive patient with severe hypoxemia in which central venous catheterization was required due to loss of intravenous line. In similar situations, it is suggested to measure the difference between O2 content of the cannulated vessel and arterial blood simultaneously for further confirmation of the central venous catheterization.