Another reason to use POCUS for Central Lines

Femoral clot

It’s easy to forget that POCUS not only increases our success and reduces our complication rates for inserting central lines, it also helps us avoid putting lines where they don’t belong! While most clots will be visible a significant number can only be appreciated by the lack of compressibility of the vein.  Below is another case submitted by Dr. Gordon regarding femoral lines. Ed.

This patient was rather ill so I was checking out the femoral veins for a possible line. However the left femoral vein was almost full with a large clot. Probably a good reason to avoid it and use the other side-which didn’t have a clot.