A Systematic Review of Complications from Pediatric Intraosseous Cannulation

AbstractPurpose of ReviewIntraosseous (IO) infusion is a commonly used method for obtaining vascular access in emergency situations. Despite the widespread, continued use of IO cannulation for pediatric subjects, a high-quality systematic review of the literature on pediatric IO complications is lacking. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of IO complications specific to the pediatric population.Recent FindingsTo our knowledge, there are no recent meta-analyses or reviews of pediatric IO complications in the literature. Outside of intermittent case reports and retrospective and prospective studies, the frequently cited data on this topic remain sparse and outdated.SummaryWe identified a 9.7% overall complication rate, which is significantly higher than the rates reported by prior studies, particularly those including mixed cohorts of children and adults. This higher rate is likely due to a variety of factors, including differences in complication monitoring and reporting between studies, as well as potential differences in complication risk between adult and pediatric subjects. These results underscore the need for a more standardized monitoring and reporting of complications attributed to IO placement. Additional and larger studies on the safety of pediatric IO infusion are needed, including primary evidence on the prevalence and incidence of these complications to avoid overreliance upon historical data and case reporting bias.
Source: Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research