Although serious extravasations are rare, a single major event can put your patient at risk, subject your hospital and staff to liability costs, and potentially damage your hospital’s reputation. Prevent these potential complications by using the Stellant XDS Extravasation Detector for every CT scan.
What is extravasation?
• Extravasation is leakage of fluids, drugs, or solutions from a vein into the surrounding tissue during intravenous administration. It can occur during hand or power injection.
How common are they?
• Contrast media extravasations during CT imaging exams are rare. Estimates vary including an average of one extravasation in every 233 scans¹ to one in every 250 to 500 scans².
• Extravasations are increasingly a concern because faster flow rate protocols, those common in cardiac CT work, may increase the severity of extravasation, should one occur. This increased severity is due to the quantity of contrast media that is rapidly injected into the tissue before a clinician is able to stop the injection. Faster flow rates do not increase the frequency of extravasations³.
What are the potential effects for patients and hospitals?
• Extravasated contrast media are toxic to skin and tissues and can lead to acute and chronic inflammation, ulceration, tissue necrosis, or “compartment” syndrome³. Low-osmolality contrast media is better tolerated than high-osmolality contrast media³.
• There is no consensus for treatment, however, common practice ranges from elevation and hot or cold compresses, to surgery³.
• Liability costs alone for moderate and severe extravasations are estimated at over $32,000 per injector per year¹.
References:
¹Paice, Timothy. "Economic Impact of an Extravasation: An Analysis." May 2007. Imaging Economics. Accessed 25 May 2007.
http://www.imagingeconomics.com/issues/articles/2007-03_05.asp
²Carrington, Catherine. “Screening and observation improve contrast safety” 2003. Advanced Strategies for CT & MR Contrast Imaging: A Special Supplement to Diagnostic Imaging. Accessed on 6 July 2007. http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/contrastimaging2003/?page=contrastimaging3.html
³“Injection of Contrast Media" American College of Radiology. Accessed 14 October 2009. http://www.acr.org/SecondaryMainMenuCategories/quality_safety/contrast_manual.aspx