Benefits and complications of peripheral central venous catheter in adult intensive care

Abstract

Introduction. Central venous accesses are essential in critical ill patients, for diagnosis and therapeutic purposes. In the recent years, evidence has shown an increase in the use of peripheral installed central catheters (PICC). The objective
of this article is to identify, through a bibliographic review, the benefits and complications associated with the use of these catheters. Materials and Methods. The PICO strategy was applied to establish the clinical question that guided the research or investigation (tb puedes elegir cual usar). The search was performed in the databases Pubmed / Medline, Scielo, Web of Science, Ovid, Clinicalkey and Scopus, using the search expression "PICC AND complications
and benefits AND intensive care unit" in Spanish and English. Filters applied were: full text, English, Spanish and Portuguese languages, published in the last 10 years and in human research. For the critical analysis, the CASPe guide
was used. Results. Only 10 articles met the criteria for the bibliographic sample, with research carried out in China, the United States, Spain, Iraq and the United Kingdom. Discussion. The outsantding benefits are: the PICC is very versatile,
its installation does not present pleural or hemorrhagic damage, it can be used for long periods, reducing costs. The installation can be performed by a trained nursing professional, the main complications are: infection and thrombosis.
Conclusions. The PICC is an effective and safe vascular access alternative, it has great advantages, its installation can be carried out by trained nurses, and it presents less risk of infections or other complications in relation to the use of
the classic CVC.