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Pediatric Temporary Central Venous Catheters

Temporary Central Venous Catheter diagramA temporary central line is a short-term catheter placed in a vein, either in the neck (the internal jugular vein) or the groin (the femoral vein). Generally, a temporary central line is in place for less than two weeks. 

A temporary central line is placed for dialysis (blood filtration to remove chemicals and waste) or apheresis (separation of blood components, usually to obtain stem cells). These therapies require a special catheter to process the blood efficiently. The end of the catheter (called the hub or clave) is outside the skin and the nurse will use that to access the vein, rather than having to place an IV each time. 

Departments

Departments

Interventional Radiology

Children’s National interventional radiologists perform a full range of minimally invasive, image-guided procedures to both diagnose and treat disease in infants, children, and adolescents.