Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026
Author Spotlight: Evaluating Clinicians' Adoption of Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Cannulation Through Simulation Training
Published on: August 9, 2024
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided vascular access in dogs
Scott C Chamberlin1, Lauren A Sullivan, Paul S Morley
1Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.
Objective:
To describe the technique and determine the feasibility, success rate, perceived difficulty, and time to vascular access using ultrasound guidance for jugular vein catheterization in a cardiac arrest dog model.
Design:
Prospective descriptive study.
Setting:
University teaching hospital.
Animals:
Nine Walker hounds.
Measurements And Main Results:
A total of 27 jugular catheterizations were performed postcardiac arrest using ultrasound guidance. Catheterizations were recorded based on the order in which they were performed and presence/absence of a hematoma around the vein. Time (minutes) until successful vascular access and perceived difficulty in achieving vascular access (scale of 1 = easy to 10 = difficult) were recorded for each catheterization. Mean time to vascular access was 1.9 minutes (95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.4 min) for catheterizations without hematoma, versus 4.3 minutes (1.8-10.1 min) for catheterizations with hematoma (P = 0.1). Median perceived difficulty was 2 of 10 (range 1-7) for catheterizations without hematoma, versus 2 of 10 (range 1-8) for catheterizations with hematoma (P = 0.3). A learning curve was evaluated by comparing mean time to vascular access and perceived difficulty in initial versus subsequent catheterizations. Mean time to vascular access was 2.5 minutes (1.0-6.4 min) in the initial 13 catheterizations versus 3.3 minutes (1.5-7.5 min) in the subsequent 14 catheterizations (P = 0.6). Median perceived difficulty in the first 13 catheterizations (3, range 1-8) was significantly greater (P = 0.049) than median perceived difficulty in the subsequent 14 catheterizations (2, range 1-6).
Conclusions:
Ultrasound-guided jugular catheterization is associated with a learning curve but is successful in obtaining rapid vascular access in dogs. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm the utility of this technique in a clinical setting.
