What is an occluded IV?
Occlusion is the interruption or ineffective therapy of infusion due to a blockage, momentary closure or obstruction of the passageway or blood vessel.
What to do if there was occlusion in the IV?
Occlusions can also be positional in nature and getting patients to raise their arm and change position can often help unblock the occlusion. A chest X-ray may be needed to rule out pinch-off syndrome or catheter tip malposition.
What is occluded catheter?
Catheter occlusion is the most common noninfectious complication associated with long-term venous access. Symptoms of a catheter-related venous thrombosis may consist of neck vein distension, edema, tingling, or pain over the ipsilateral arm and neck, and a prominent venous pattern over the anterior chest.
How do you manage a catheter occlusion?
The current standard treatment for CVC occlusions in the United States is instillation of alteplase with a concentration of 2 mg/2mL. A dose of 2 mL, or 110% of the volume of the catheter lumen if less than 2 mL (maximum dose 2 mg), is placed in the catheter lumen.
What is occluded patient?
An occlusion is a complete or partial blockage of a blood vessel.
What is occluded patient side?
Most often, the occlusion is one of two things if it is on the patient side: The patients IV is in a place where the arm can bend such as the AC (elbow), wrist, or even a finger (if pt is a hard stick). The occlusion occurs when the pt bends that area and blocks flow.
What causes IV occlusion?
One important cause of catheter occlusion is blood reflux,1 or when blood backs up into the catheter. Blood reflux can lead to an intraluminal thrombus, which may result in an inability to infuse IV fluids/medications. An occluded catheter may also lead to an inability to withdraw blood.
How do you clear an occluded PICC line?
Try flushing the catheter with 10ml 0.9% saline. If the fluids still refuse to free-flow, then instil Urokinase into the catheter and leave for 60 minutes. If this fails, repeat the Urokinase instillation but this time leave it in the line for several hours or overnight.
How do you prevent a thrombotic catheter occlusion?
Positioning the catheter tip in a flowing blood stream can help prevent thrombosis due to stasis. Some types of catheter have a tip configuration which acts as a valve preventing ingress of blood and luminal thrombosis (e.g. a Groshong catheter).
What is distal occlusion IV?
One of the most common infusion pump alarms is for air in the IV line. Another common infusion pump alarm is a distal occlusion alarm, which is often caused by the patient kinking the line by bending an arm or catching the loose tubing on the bed.
What is a downstream occlusion on an IV?
One of the many important features of an infusion pump is the “Downstream Occlusion Alarm”. When an IV becomes obstructed, the pressure within the IV syringe and connected tubing will increase. When the pressure reaches its setting threshold, a downstream occlusion alarm will be activated.
Why is my PICC line blocked?
Blood clots: Blood clots can form on the tip of the PICC line. If these clots break free, they can travel through the heart to the lung, a condition called a pulmonary embolism (PE). They can also form in the arm around the line and may cause vein inflammation. Malfunction: PICC lines can become clogged.