Ultrasound-guided short-axis out-of-plane versus long-axis in-plane technique of Posterior Tibial Artery Cannulation in adult patients: The POTACUT (POsterior Tibial Artery Access with Ultrasound Trial) Randomized Trial.

Background: No research has been conducted to compare long-axis in-plane and short-axis out-of-plane techniques for ultrasound-guided posterior tibial artery cannulation in adults. This study compared these two procedures for cannulating the posterior tibial artery.

Methods: This prospective randomized trial included 236 adult patients undergoing general anesthesia who required arterial cannulation. The posterior tibial artery was cannulated using either the long-axis in-plane technique (group LAIP) or the short-axis out-of-plane method (group SAOP) with an ultrasound machine. First-attempt cannulation success, the number of cannulation attempts required to achieve successful cannulation, ultrasound localization time, cannulation time, and perioperative complications in these two groups were analyzed.

Results: The LAIP group demonstrated a significantly higher first-attempt success rate (40.7% vs 18.6%,  < 0.001), shorter ultrasound localization time (36.5 [30, 60] s vs 50 [35, 80] s,  < 0.001), and faster cannulation time (80 [55, 100] s vs 110 [70, 180] s,  < 0.001). LAIP group showed a significantly higher overall success rate (92.4% vs 81.4%,  = 0.012). The median number of cannulation attempts in the LAIP and SAOP groups were 2 [1, 2] and 2 [2, 3], respectively ( < 0.001). Complications were comparable between groups ( = 0.248).

Conclusions: The LAIP group demonstrated higher first-attempt and overall success rates compared to the SAOP group for ultrasound-guided posterior tibial artery (PTA) cannulation in adult patients.