I thought I should share this image here. We had a PICC not working on a unit. The RN had been alteplasing it and asked me to come and assess. After maniplation of the arm I was able to reobtain patency in all three lumens, and felt that there was a kink the arm of the patient. CXR (w arm) confirmed this. I pulled it back a few cms and the line opened up and was working again.
You can identify the inner lumens of TL LUE PICC on CXR where the kink (loop) occured. I thought it looked like a happy face and a sad face. This image is zoomed in quite a bit. : ) & : (
Andrew Walker BSN, VA-BC, CRNI, PCCN
Thanks for sharing. IMO, this is a great example of why all VAD clearance assessment and procedures should be exclusively in the hands of the infusion/VA team.
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861