Central Arterial Line Placement for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery: A Single-Center Experience

Peripheral arterial line placement is a common, low-risk procedure in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Central arterial cannulation may be used when peripheral cannulation is not feasible. At present, there are limited data to guide central arterial-line site selection in pediatric patients. We aimed to (1) quantify the rate of complications associated with central arterial-line placement in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery, (2) determine risk factors associated with central arterial-line complications, and (3) describe placement trends during the last decade.

This was a retrospective, single-center cohort study of pediatric patients who underwent intraoperative placement of an axillary or femoral arterial line for cardiac surgery between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2022. The primary outcome studied was the incidence of complications, defined as vascular compromise, pulse loss, ultrasound-confirmed thrombus or flow abnormality, and/or positive blood cultures not attributable to another source. Patients' characteristics and perioperative factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis to examine the relationship between these factors and line-associated complications.

A total of 1263 central arterial lines were analyzed-195 axillary arterial lines and 1068 femoral arterial lines. The overall incidences of vascular compromise and pulse loss from central arterial-line placement were 17.8% and 8.3%, respectively. Axillary lines had lower rates of vascular compromise (6.2% vs 19.9%, P < .001), pulse loss (2.1% vs 9.5%, P < .001), and ultrasound-confirmed thrombus of flow abnormalities (14.3% vs 81.1%, P = .001) than femoral lines. Complications were more common in neonates and infants. By multivariate logistic regression, femoral location (odds ratio [OR], 4.16, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.97-8.78), presence of a genetic syndrome (OR, 1.68, 95% CI, 1.21-2.34), prematurity (OR, 1.48, 95% CI, 1.02-2.15), and anesthesia time (OR, 1.17 per hour, 95% CI, 1.07-1.27 per hour) were identified as independent risk factors for vascular compromise. Femoral location (OR, 7.43, 95% CI, 2.08-26.6), presence of a genetic syndrome (OR, 1.86, 95% CI, 1.18-2.93), prematurity (OR, 1.65, 95% CI, 1.02-2.67), and 22-G catheter size (OR, 3.26, 95% CI, 1.16-9.15) were identified as independent risk factors for pulse loss.

Axillary arterial access is associated with a lower rate of complications in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery as compared to femoral arterial access. Serious complications are rare and were limited to femoral arterial lines in this study.