Objectives: Central venous access devices enable many treatments during critical illness; however, 25% of pediatric central venous access devices fail before completion of treatment due to infection, thrombosis, dislodgement, and occlusion. This is frequently attributed to inadequate securement and dressing of the device; however, high-quality research evaluating pediatric central venous access device securement innovation to prevent central venous access device failure is scarce. This study aimed to establish the feasibility of a definitive randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of current and new technologies to secure central venous access devices in pediatrics.
Design: Single-center, parallel group, superiority, pilot randomized control trial.
Setting: Anesthetic and intensive care departments of a tertiary pediatric hospital SUBJECTS:: One-hundred eighty pediatric patients with nontunneled central venous access device INTERVENTIONS:: Participants were randomized to receive central venous access device securement via standard care (bordered polyurethane dressing, with prolene sutures, chlorhexidine gluconate disc), tissue adhesive (Histoacryl, B Braun, Melsungen, Germany) in addition to standard care; or integrated dressing securement (SorbaView SHIELD [Centurion Medical Products, Franklin, MA], with prolene sutures and chlorhexidine gluconate disc).
Outcomes: Primary: Feasibility (including effect size estimates, acceptability); central venous access device failure; central venous access device complications; secondary: individual central venous access device complications, skin damage, dressing performance, and product cost.
Measurements and main results: Feasibility criteria were achieved as recruitment occurred with acceptable eligibility, recruitment, missing data, and attrition rates, as well as good protocol adherence. Family members and staff-reported comparable levels of acceptability between study arms; however, tissue adhesive was reported as the most difficult to apply. Overall, 6% of central venous access devices failed, including 6% (3/54; incident rate, 13.2 per 1,000 catheter days) standard care, 2% (1/56; incident rate, 3.65 per 1,000 catheter days) integrated, and 8% (5/59; 25.0 per 1,000 catheter days) tissue adhesive.
Conclusions: It is feasible to conduct an efficacy randomized control trial of the studied interventions. Further research is required to definitively identify clinical, cost-effective methods to prevent central venous access device failure by examining new dressing and securement technologies and techniques.