Absence of the Right Internal Jugular Vein During Ultrasound-Guided Cannulation

Cannulation of the internal jugular vein (IJV) may be diffucult because of anatomical variations. A 66-year-old female patient, who was in the intensive care unit, underwent ultrasound-guided cannulation of the right IJV. The right IJV could not be visualized by ultrasonography despite positional changes of the patient and Valsalva maneuvre. The left IJV was easily determined by ultrasonography and cannulated. Although the landmark technique may be sufficient for most of the central vein cannulations, the rate of anatomical variations and related complications is quite high. We point out that even if ultrasound cannot be used in real-time, the ultrasonographic confirmation during the pre-insertion period may be crucial for successful central vein cannulation.