Objective: To compare simultaneous central venous pressure measurements from rigid polyurethane and soft tunneled silicone elastomere catheters.
Hypothesis: There will be no significant difference in central venous pressure readings between polyurethane and silastic catheters.
Setting: Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in a tertiary care children's hospital.
Patients: Five children undergoing bone marrow transplantation with preexisting polyurethane and silastic catheters.
Methods: Simultaneous central venous pressure readings were obtained by 2 observers blinded to the other readings and to the type of catheter. Readings were done in triplicate (total of 690 readings). Each triplicate was averaged to 1 data point yielding 115 paired central venous pressure measurements.
Results: No significant difference was demonstrated between polyurethane and silicone catheters (-1 +/- 3 cm H20). Using Bland and Altman method revealed no significant bias (mean = -1 cm H2O) and acceptable agreement between catheter types.
Conclusion: Silicone and polyurethane catheters yield similar values of central venous pressures. Permanently implanted silicone elastomere catheters can be used to measure central venous pressure in the emergency setting.