[Intraosseous puncture as vascular access in pediatric emergency and intensive care medicine]

In paediatric resuscitation scenarios, emergency physicians have sufficient skills in endotracheal intubation. They are successful in about 80% of the cases as US studies indicate. However, vascular access is much more of a critical problem and emergency physicians succeed in only 50%. Therefore, intraosseous access has become an internationally widely used and accepted method for venous access. In Germany, however, only case reports concerning this technique have been published. Based on the authors' experience shared with Sussmane and Raszynski in the US, we used the technique of intraosseous access in 18 paediatric resuscitative situations. Eleven patients survived who would not have done so without quick intravenous access. As complications we recorded a minor fracture, one compartment syndrome, which did not require surgical intervention, and a postmortally discovered minor fat embolism, which was of no clinical significance. Courses teaching this method should be offered in Germany to spread knowledge of this life-saving technique.