Common procedure-related complications in the ICU: A pictorial review

Several medical procedures are performed daily in the intensive care unit (ICU), and it is evident that complications still occur frequently and are potentially life-threatening. We believe that the best way to prevent the occurrence of procedure complications is to learn from the experience of others. We present this imagebased review of common procedure-related complications and hope to alarm the clinicians to early identify and manage these complications. These cases have been collected from the ICU in a tertiary care teaching hospital in order to demonstrate this image-based review of common procedure-related complications. Here we introduce these procedure complications with regard to most common support and monitoring devices used in the ICU, including intravenous catheter, nasogastric tube, endotracheal tube, central venous catheter, hemodialysis double-lumen catheter, chest tube, and Sengstaken–Blakemore tube. Procedure complications involving critically ill patients are common and often potentially life-threatening. Decreasing the frequency of procedure-related complications is an important and direct way to improve medical quality. Understanding their incidence, causes, risk factors, diagnosis, management, and prevention are helpful in damage control. (J Intern Med Taiwan 2013; 24: 453-460)