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Sonographically guided placement of intravenous catheters in minipigs

  • Technique
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Lab Animal

Abstract

Many procedures in minipigs require establishment of reliable deep venous access with a large-bore catheter. In animal experiments, such catheters are typically implanted surgically. In clinical settings, however, ultrasound imaging is routinely used to facilitate safe, minimally invasive puncture of deep vessels. The authors describe a technique for using ultrasound guidance to puncture and cannulate the minipig femoral vein. They carried out the procedure in six minipigs for the purpose of injecting contrast agents for subsequent imaging scans. The procedure was ultimately successful in all pigs, took 10 min on average and resulted in no physiological complications. In one minipig, however, a 10-cm-long catheter became dislodged from the femoral vein; use of a longer (25-cm-long) catheter was optimal for establishing reliable intravenous access.

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Figure 1: Puncture procedure.
Figure 2: Manual compression for safe identification of the left femoral vein.
Figure 3: Unenhanced MRI shows distinct, hyperintense bulging of the minipig's abdominal sidewall in a T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence, indicating leakage of continuous i.v. fluids (arrow).
Figure 4: Volume rendering of a whole-body CT scan with the 6-French Huisman catheter (25 cm) in situ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CharitéCentrum 6, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine,

    Jens Pinkernelle &  Ulf K.M. Teichgräber

  2. General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, Campus Virchow, Charité, Universitätmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    Nathanael Raschzok

Authors
  1. Jens Pinkernelle
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  2. Nathanael Raschzok
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  3. Ulf K.M. Teichgräber
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Correspondence to Jens Pinkernelle.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Pinkernelle, J., Raschzok, N. & Teichgräber, U. Sonographically guided placement of intravenous catheters in minipigs. Lab Anim 38, 241–245 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0709-241

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