Background and objectives: Insertion of dialysis catheters (DCs) is a prerequisite for successful initiation of hemodialysis. We attempted to determine if ultrasonography-guided (USG) insertion was superior and safer than the anatomical landmarkguided technique (ALT) for the femoral vein (FV).Design, setting, participants, & measurements: This was a randomized prospective study on 110 patients requiring FV DCs in a tertiary care hospital. Patients were randomized into two groups: USG and ALT. Data were collected on demography, operator experience, and side of insertion. The USG group had their catheters inserted under USG guidance, whereas the ALT group had their DC inserted by ALT. Outcome measures included successful insertion of DC, number of attempts, and complications.Results: Both groups were comparable regarding age and gender of patients, operator experience, and the side of catheterization. The overall success rate was 89.1%, with 80% using ALT and 98.2% under USG guidance (P ‫؍‬ 0.002). First attempt success rate was 54.5% in the ALT group as compared with 85.5% in the USG group (P ‫؍‬ 0.000). The complication rate was 18.2% in the ALT group and 5.5% in the USG group (P ‫؍‬ 0.039). The odds ratio (OR) for complications with two or more attempts was 10.73 with a relative risk (RR) of 3.2. The OR for successful insertion using USG was 13.5 (95% CI: 1.7 to 108.7).Conclusions: USG significantly improves success rate, reduces number of attempts, and decreases the incidence of complications related to FV DC insertion.

Background: Glycemic control in hospital intensive care units (ICU) has been the subject of numerous research publications and debate over the past 2 decades. There have been multiple studies showing the benefit of ICU glucose control in reducing both morbidity and mortality. GlySure Ltd has developed a glucose monitor based on a diboronic acid receptor that can continuously measure plasma glucose concentrations directly in a patient’s vascular system. The goal of this study was to validate the performance of the GlySure CIGM system in different patient populations. Methods: The GlySure Continuous Intravascular Glucose Monitoring (CIGM) System was evaluated in both the Cardiac ICU (33 patients) and MICU setting (14 patients). The sensor was placed through a custom CVC and measured the patients’ blood glucose concentration every 15 seconds. Comparison blood samples were taken at 2 hourly then 4 hourly intervals and measured on a YSI 2300 STAT Plus or an i-STAT. Results: Consensus error grid analysis of the data shows that the majority of the data (88.2% Cardiac, and 95.0% MICU) fell within zone A, which is considered to be clinically accurate and all data points fell within zones A and B. The MARD of the Cardiac trial was 9.90% and the MICU trial had a MARD of 7.95%. Data analysis showed no significant differences between data generated from Cardiac and MICU patients or by time or glucose concentration. Conclusions: The GlySure CIGM System has met the design challenges of measuring intravascular glucose concentrations in critically ill patients with acceptable safety and performance criteria and without disrupting current clinical practice. The accuracy of the data is not affected by the patients’ condition.

Outcome of ESRD patients admitted to ICU is poor, especially if they require other organ support. APACHE II and SOFA scores perform well as predictors of 30-day mortality.

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