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Case Reports
. 2011 Apr 26:2011:bcr0220113813.
doi: 10.1136/bcr.02.2011.3813.

Parenteral nutrition--ascites with acute renal failure as a complication from an umbilical venous catheter in an extremely low birth weight infant

Jean Egyepong  1 , Amish Jain, Peter Chow, Sunit Godambe
Affiliations
Case Reports

Parenteral nutrition--ascites with acute renal failure as a complication from an umbilical venous catheter in an extremely low birth weight infant

Jean Egyepong et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

Umbilical venous catheters (UVCs) are frequently used in the neonatal intensive care setting and play a crucial role in the management of extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. One very rare complication reported is parenteral nutrition (PN) ascites secondary to vessel perforation or hepatic erosion by PN at the tip of malpositioned UVCs with various hepatic lesions. We describe a case of early onset PN ascites with no obvious associated hepatic lesion but complicated by pre-renal acute renal failure in an ELBW infant with the tip positioned between the 10th and 11th thoracic vertebrae.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Anteroposterior plain radiograph showing UVC tip at T10 position.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plain abdominal radiograph showing UVC at the same level as postinsertion and features of ascites. This radiograph was taken just before the UVC was removed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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