Ultrasound guidance for femoral venous access in electrophysiology procedures—systematic review and meta-analysis

The most common complications of electrophysiology (EP) procedures are related to vascular access. Our study aims to conduct a meta-analysis comparing ultrasound (US)-guided vs. palpation-based technique for femoral venous access in EP procedures.

Electronic databases were searched and systematically reviewed for studies comparing femoral vein puncture with/without US in EP procedures. The primary outcome was the rate of major vascular complications; secondary outcomes were minor vascular complications, inadvertent artery puncture, postprocedural groin pain, and puncture time. Predefined subgroup analysis was conducted separately for patients undergoing pulmonary vein isolation procedure (PVI). A random-effects model was used to derive risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Nine studies involving 8232 patients met our inclusion criteria. Compared with the standard technique, the use of US reduced major vascular complications (from 2.01 to 0.71%, p < 0.0001). The rate of minor vascular complications (RR = 0.30, 95% CI, 0.14–0.62, p = 0.001) and inadvertent artery puncture were lower with US-guided puncture (RR = 0.31, 95% CI, 0.17–0.58, p = 0.0003). Puncture time was shorter (mean difference = − 92.1 s, 95% CI, − 142.12 – − 42.07 s, p = 0.0003) and postprocedural groin pain was less frequent (RR = 0.57, 95% CI, 0.41–0.79, p = 0.0008) in the US group. Subgroup analysis of patients undergoing PVI also showed significant reduction of major vascular complications (RR = 0.27, 95% CI, 0.12–0.64, p = 0.003) and inadvertent artery puncture (RR = 0.35, 95% CI, 0.21–0.59, p < 0.0001).

Real-time US-guidance of femoral vein puncture in EP procedures is beneficial: it reduces major and minor vascular complications, inadvertent artery puncture, postprocedural groin pain, and puncture time.