An Alternate Technique to Determine Umbilical Arterial Catheter Length

Sick babies often have an umbilical artery catheter (UAC) inserted. To minimize risk to the baby, the catheter is inserted a distance calculated to place it either between the third and fifth lumbar vertebrae or between the sixth and 10th thoracic vertebrae when checked radiographically. The methods used to calculate this insertion distance require that length measurements of the baby be plotted on reference graphs. Directly measuring the distance from the baby's xiphoid process to his pubis and adding this to the distance from the pubis to mid-umbilicus yields an UAC insertion length that places the catheter between T6 and T10 as accurately as methods that require reference charts.