Ease of Internal Jugular Venous Cannulation by Anterior V/S Posterior Approach: A Randomized Interventional Study

Percutaneous cervical central venous cannulation is now common practice during Perioperative care in major surgical procedures, critically ill patients in intensive care units for long term hyperalimentation and for rapid restoration of blood volume in cases of acute blood loss. Proper route of insertion is essential for its success. The objective of this study is to compare procedural parameters and complications associated with anterior and posterior approaches for Internal Jugular Venous cannulation.

Our study was conducted as a prospective randomized interventional trail in 60 patients undergoing scheduled cardiac surgeries requiring Right internal jugular venous cannulation in a tertiary level hospital after obtaining clearance from ethics committee, patients were randomly allocated into two groups either Anterior approach (Group A; n=30) or Posterior Approach (Group B; n=30). Number of attempts, time for identification of IJV, duration of cannulation, ease of insertion, complications were compared in both the groups.

The number of attempts (p value 0.036), mean time taken for vein identification (p value 0.0003), catheterization time (p value <0.001), incidence of arterial puncture and hematoma are less with posterior approach, ease of threading is comparable among both the group. There were no statistically significant intergroup differences with respect to the Age, Sex, ASA grade.

The posterior approach is better than anterior approach for Internal Jugular Vein Cannulation, as it improves the success rate, permits easy threading of catheter, reduces access time and duration of cannulation, complications like arterial puncture, hematoma, pneumothorax are lesser in posterior approach.