Spontaneous correction of misplaced peripherally inserted central catheters

The purpose of the present study was to examine a new protocol involving the spontaneous correction of the misplaced tip of a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). Patients with PICCs misplaced in the jugular or contralateral subclavian veins were recruited. All patients underwent chest X-ray (CXR) after 3 days. In addition, those whose PICC tip still was misplaced and received another CXR after 4 days. The functions of the catheters, the subjective feelings of the patients, and local symptoms of the neck and upper anterior chest wall were recorded. Among 866 patients who had PICCs, we observed 22 PICC tips misplaced in the jugular, 3 tips misplaced in the contralateral subclavian vein, and 7 tips misplaced in other locations, which was confirmed by CXR. A total of 22 PICC tips automatically returned to the superior vena cava, which included all 3 tips in the contralateral subclavian vein and 19 tips in the jugular vein. All catheters functioned normally, and the patients had no complaints. In addition, we observed no local symptoms of the neck and upper anterior chest wall. For patients experiencing a PICC misplaced in the jugular and contralateral subclavian veins, there is no need to manually replace. In addition, the function of the catheter can remain normal.