Peripherally inserted central catheters in the intensive care unit

We report the success rate and complications of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU). We performed a cohort study in the ICU of a large tertiary care, university-affiliated community hospital. All ICU patients for whom their attending physicians requested a PICC service consultation were included. Main outcome measurements included (1) the success rate for initial PICC placement, (2) the placement complication rate, and (3) the overall success and complication rate. Of the 91 consecutive attempts at PICC placement, 89 (97.8%) were successful: of the 89 successful placements, 25 (28%) required cutdown procedures. There were 20 complications of initial placement and 8 delayed complications, which occurred in 19 PICCs. Complications included recatheterization after first attempt was unsuccessful (10), catheter malposition (7), palpitations or catheter clotting (3 each), heavy bleeding or mechanical phlebitis (2 each), and arterial puncture (1). The overall success rate for completion of therapy using the PICC was 74.7%. The most frequent reasons for failure to complete therapy were catheter dislodgment in 8 patients and "infection" in 9 patients. Of these 9 patients with "infections," 8 catheters were discontinued due to potential infection, and only 1 was removed due to confirmed infection. The confirmed infection rate was 6/10,000 patient days. The PICC appears to be a reasonable alternative to other approaches to peripheral and central venous access. The initial and overall success rates from this preliminary study justify further evaluation of the PICC in critically ill patients.