Cai EZ, et al. – In this prospective randomized controlled trial, the efficacy of pen torch transillumination (PTI) in improving venepuncture success rate (SR) for patients with poor venous access was evaluated. As per observations, PTI allowed users to visualize veins invisible to the naked eye. Thrombosed/tortuous veins, branch points and valves, were easily identified and avoided. It proved to have comparable efficacy to Veinlite and was cheaper (Veinlite–USD 227 vs. Penlite–LP212–USD 7.00) and more easily available. PTI could improve patient care, especially in developing regions where costs are a concern.

Methods

• In this prospective randomized controlled trial, researchers recruited adult patients (n = 69) aged 21–90 with difficult venous access (history of ≥3 consecutive attempts required for successful cannulation during the current admission) requiring non-emergent venepuncture.
• One of the following was used on patients to performed venepuncture over the upper-limb: conventional venepuncture (control); Veinlite EMS (TransLite, Texas, USA), a commercial transillumination device; PTI.
• For this study, outcome measures assessed were: successful cannulation within 2 attempts and total duration of venepuncture.
• They performed Fisher’s exact and Kruskal–Wallis tests.

Results

• Successful venepuncture was achieved in significantly larger number of patients within 2 attempts using PTI (22/23, 95.7%) and Veinlite (23/23, 100%), compared to the controls (7/23, 30.4%) (p < 0.05).
• Significantly shorter total duration was required for successful venepuncture for Veinlite (mean 3.7 min, 1.0–5.3 min) and PTI (mean 8.5 min, range 1.08–27 min) compared to the controls (mean 23.2 min, range 1.88–46.5 min) (p < 0.05).