Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41892830›Full record

ArticleMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2026

Quantifying the Learning Curve in Ultrasound-Guided Vascular Access: Proficiency Metrics of Self-Taught Axillary Vein Puncture for CIED Implantation.

Dimitrios A Vrachatis, Konstantinos A Papathanasiou, Ioannis Anagnostopoulos, Sotiria G Giotaki, Maria Kousta, Christos Karavasilis, Christos Piperis, Panagiotis Tolios, Andreas Kaoukis, Konstantinos Raisakis and 4 more

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Article in Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Dimitrios A VrachatisDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-2385-5365
Konstantinos A PapathanasiouElectrophysiology and Pacing Department, Eugenideio Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0003-0123-2615
Ioannis AnagnostopoulosElectrophysiology and Pacing Department, Eugenideio Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-3062-360X
Sotiria G GiotakiElectrophysiology and Pacing Department, Eugenideio Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.
Maria KoustaElectrophysiology and Pacing Department, Eugenideio Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-9355-400X
Christos KaravasilisDepartment of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Christos PiperisDepartment of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Panagiotis ToliosDepartment of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Andreas KaoukisDepartment of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Konstantinos RaisakisDepartment of Cardiology, "G. Gennimatas" General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Georgios GiannopoulosThird Department of Cardiology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, ''Hippokration'' General Hospital, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.ORCID 0000-0002-7287-3850
Theodore G PapaioannouDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Gerasimos SiasosThird Department of Cardiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Sotiria Chest Disease Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Spyridon DeftereosElectrophysiology and Pacing Department, Eugenideio Clinic, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-9611-5002

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUltrasound (US)-guided axillary vein puncture (AVP) is an established technique for cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation. Yet real-world data concerning shifting from conventional venous access into US-guided AVP are not widely available.

methodsThis is a single-center prospective registry reporting safety (complications) and efficacy (success rate: i.e., accomplishment of the vein access utilizing only the initially employed approach) of self-taught US-guided AVP integration into the standard workflow of CIED procedures.

resultsA total of 539 patients (mean age 71.5 ± 12.4 years old, 78.7% males) were treated in our institution over a three-year period. Regarding CIED type and lead number, 58.3% used an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, 32% used permanent pacemakers, and two leads were involved in 65.8% of the cases and three leads in 8.9%. Before integration of US-guided AVP, the venous access success rate was 93.5%. The US-guided AVP success rate was 377/400 procedures (94.2%). After the first semester of US-guided AVP utilization, a pattern of increased success rate was observed (

conclusionsThe integration of US-guided AVP in a self-taught manner is feasible among electrophysiologists with experience in US-guided vascular access. A high success rate can be reached quickly and safely.

Indexed as

Axillary VeinDefibrillators, ImplantableLearning CurvePacemaker, ArtificialPuncturesUltrasonography, InterventionalAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProspective Studiescardiac implantable electronic devicecomplicationsself-taught experiencesuccess rateultrasound-guided axillary vein puncture

Identifiers

PMID41892830
PMCPMC13027568

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.