Visualising veins is easy at Russells Hall

Pictured are clinical support workers Angela Jones and Amanda Trafford, GE Healthcare ultrasound sales specialist Jon Robinson and consultant anaesthetists Dr Wilson Thomas and Dr Jim Brunning.

Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley already had several point-of-care ultrasound systems when it added a GE Healthcare Venue 40 for placement of long-term tunnelled cuffed central venous catheters, Portocath and PICC catheters in the angio suite.

Consultant anaesthetist Dr Wilson Thomas explained: “I use ultrasound for percutaneously accessing the internal jugular, subclavian and femoral veins for placement of central venous catheters and basilic and cubital venis for placement of PICC lines. The cases range from oncological, haematological, total parenteral nutrition, severe sepsis and those with chronic infection needing long-term antibiotics.

“We chose the GE Healthcare Venue 40 because of the excellent resolution (12 Mhz), which makes it very easy to visualise the veins and other important adjoining structures. We use callipers to measure the diameter of veins and Doppler the flow pattern in situations where central venous access is difficult. We can also store the images for future reference.”

See the full report on page 33 of the August 2013 issue of RAD Magazine.