New Infrared Vein Finder Technology Increases IV Cannulation Site Visibility in Obese and Dark-Skinned Patients

Background
Identifying suitable intravenous (i.v.) cannulation sites can be challenging, particularly in certain patient populations. This study investigated which patient characteristic factors correlate with the identification of i.v. cannulation sites using normal, unassisted eyesight. It also evaluated the efficacy of a new infrared vein finding (VF) technology device in identifying potential cannulation sites.

Methods
Each subject underwent two separate observations:

• One using the conventional method (CM) of normal, unassisted eyesight

• One using the infrared VF device, VueTek's Veinsite™ (VF)

A power analysis for moderate effect size (β=0.95) required 54 samples to detect within-subject differences.

Results
Patient characteristic profiles were obtained from 384 subjects, yielding 768 total observations. The sample population exhibited an overall average of 5.8 veins (95% CI 5.4–6.2) using the conventional method.

Conventional vein visualization was less effective among certain subgroups:

• Obese subjects: 4.5 veins (95% CI 3.8–5.3)

• African-American subjects: 4.6 veins (95% CI 3.6–5.5)

• Asian subjects: 5.1 veins (95% CI 4.1–6.0)

The infrared VF technology identified an average of 9.1 possible cannulation sites (95% CI 8.6–9.5), compared with 5.8 (95% CI 5.4–6.2) using the conventional method.

In the 76 obese subjects, an average of 4.5 veins (95% CI 3.8–5.3) were viewable by conventional method versus 8.2 veins (95% CI 7.4–9.1) using the infrared device.

In dark-skinned subjects, 9.1 veins (95% CI 8.3–9.9) were visible using the infrared device, compared with 5.4 veins (95% CI 4.8–6.0) using the conventional method.

Conclusions
African-American or Asian ethnicity, and obesity were associated with decreased vein visibility using conventional unassisted eyesight. The visibility of veins eligible for cannulation increased for all subgroups when using the new infrared vein finding device. This technology offers a promising solution for improving IV cannulation success rates in patients who are traditionally more difficult to cannulate.

Key Points

• Factors contributing to difficult venous cannulation and the impact of new vein imaging technologies are important to safe and effective medical therapy.

• The numbers of potential i.v. cannulation sites were compared using the conventional visual method and a new infrared vein finding technology.

• Infrared vein visualization increased the number of potential cannulation sites in all subgroups.