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Thromb Haemost 1994; 72(04): 540-542
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1648910
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

Upper Extremity Impedance Plethysmography in Patients with Venous Access Devices

McDonald K Horne III
1   The Clinical Pathology Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, USA
,
Donna Jo Mayo
1   The Clinical Pathology Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, USA
,
Richard Alexander
2   Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, USA
,
Elizabeth P Steinhaus
2   Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, USA
,
Richard C Chang
3   The Radiology Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
,
Eric Whitman
2   Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, USA
,
Harvey R Gralnick
1   The Clinical Pathology Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, USA
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 17 March 1994

Accepted after revision 09 June 1994

Publication Date:
06 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

Central venous access devices (VADs) are often associated with thrombotic obstruction of the axillary-subclavian venous system. To explore the accuracy of impedance plethysmography (IPG) in identifying this complication we performed IPG on 35 adult cancer patients before their VADs were placed and approximately 6 weeks later. At the time of the second IPG the patients also underwent contrast venography of the axillary-subclavian system. The venograms revealed partial venous obstruction in 12 patients (34%) and complete obstruction in two (5.7%). Although the IPG results from venographically normal and abnormal patients overlapped extensively, mean measurements of venous outflow were significantly lower in the patient population with abnormal venograms (P = 0.052 for Vo; P = 0.0036 for Vo/Vc). In our hands, therefore, upper extremity IPG cannot be used to make clinical decisions about individual patients with VADs, but it can distinguish venographically normal and abnormal populations.

 

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