Arterial Lines in ICU: How Often Do They Fail or Cause Infection?
Posted
on 26 May 2026
 "Arterial Lines in ICU: How Often Do They Fail or Cause Infection?")
| Study Overview Arterial catheters (“arterial lines”) are widely used in adult intensive care for continuous blood pressure monitoring and frequent blood sampling. While central lines have a strong evidence base on complications, arterial line complication rates are less clearly understood. This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled the available research to estimate how often arterial catheters fail and how often infections occur in adult ICU settings. The review included 39 studies (randomised trials and observational studies) covering 19,018 arterial catheters. Key Findings
Implications This review suggests arterial catheter failure can affect up to one in five devices in intensive care, meaning the impact is significant at scale even when infections are relatively uncommon. The findings reinforce three priorities for improvement: reducing mechanical and functional failure through consistent insertion and maintenance practices, improving infection outcome definitions and reporting, and standardising how results are documented so units can benchmark and improve over time. Read more:https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.70074 Authors: Annabel Levido; Nicole Marsh; Amanda Corley; Felicity Edwards; Kevin B. Laupland; Samantha Keogh |
