Construction of Femoral Vessel Nomograms for Planning Cardiac Interventional Procedures in Children 0–4 Years Old

The objectives of this study were to construct femoral artery (FA) and femoral vein (FV) nomograms in children aged 0–4 years and to construct probability curves for the occurrence of arterial access complications based on the size of the FA. The FV and FA are commonly accessed during cardiac catheterizations in children with congenital heart diseases (CHD). However, nomograms for vessel dimensions based on child’s age or size are not available. This knowledge may be helpful for interventional planning. A prospective study was performed on 400 children (age 0–4 years) with CHD undergoing cardiac catheterizations over a 3-year period. Ultrasound evaluation of the right and left FA and FV was performed under anesthesia prior to vascular access. Regression modeling was applied to derive nomograms based on quantile polynomial regression, which yielded good fit to the data judged by R-squared. GAMLSS transformation method was used to formulate smoothed percentiles. A separate prospective evaluation of FA to determine the size below which loss of pulse (LOP) are likely to occur was performed. Nomograms for FA and FV diameter and cross-sectional area against age and body surface area and probability curves for FA LOP were constructed. It is now possible to examine ultrasound-based normal sizes of femoral vein and artery in children 0–4 years of age. Femoral vessel nomograms and LOP probability curves may help with interventional planning. Future studies with larger sample size, including children of other ages may be useful.