Smallbore IV access

[Mr. Freeze]

Saw in an old Fire Engineering an article about medical response to the Murrah bombing in OKC, and they spoke of an "over-the-wire" or "wire-guided" cannula that can be placed in smaller veins and then dilated so that it can turn, say hand access into largebore flows. Is anyone familiar with these?

[Pamela Baber]

Greetings!

Sounds like you may be referring to the Seldinger technique. It is a technique for
guiding a larger catheter into a vein previously entered with a small catheter using a wire dilator. After you have a moderately sized over the needle catheter in place and the needle is withdrawn, a guide wire is passed through it. The catheter is then withdrawn and a dilator and number 8 or 9 French catheter are threaded along the wire guide into the vein. The wire and dilator are removed, leaving the large catheter in place.