An umbilical venous catheter complication presented as acute abdomen: case report

Umbilical venous catheterization has become a widely accepted intravenous route for premature babies. These catheters allow administration of parenteral nutrition and medication and facilitate blood sampling. Besides these benefits, they also have significant potential complications like portal vein thrombosis, infection, vascular or hepatic injury, arrhythmia and sepsis. One of the rare but important complication is extravasation of the fluids due to misplacement of the catheter. The typical symptoms of this condition are sudden deterioration, hepatic enlargement, hematocrit drop, hypotension and abdominal distension. We herein present a premature newborn with unusual acute abdomen findings suggesting a surgical pathology after the extravasation of total parenteral nutrition into the abdomen.