Apr 11, 1995 - John V Reynolds FRCSI. Senior Registrar in Surgery. Killian Walsh MB. Senior House Officer. Jane Ruigrok DipDietetics. Senior Dietician.
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1995; 77: 447-449
Randomised comparison of silicone versus Teflon cannulas for peripheral intravenous nutrition John V Reynolds
FRCSI Senior Registrar in Surgery
Jane Ruigrok
Killian Walsh
John M P Hyland FRCSI
MB Senior House Officer
DipDietetics
Senior Dietician
Consultant Surgeon
Department of Surgical Nutrition, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin
The use of peripheral intravenous nutrition using standard Teflon® cannulas is limited by a high incidence of thrombophlebitis, with resultant frequent line changes and compromised nutritional therapy. Fine-bore silicone catheters may reduce the incidence of thrombophlebitis; we prospectively compared the silicone catheter with a Teflon cannula in a randomised trial. Seventy-nine surgical patients were randomised to receive peripheral nutrition (10 g nitrogen; 1770 kcal; 650 mOsml1) either via a Teflon cannula (18G, 4.4 cm long) or via a silicone catheter (23G, 15 cm long). Compared with the group randomised to a standard Teflon cannula, patients fed via a silicone catheter had a significant (P
