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Disposable pressure transducer to identify central pressure measurements in umbilical lines for preterm and term infants in the neonatal intensive care unit

Journal of Perinatology volume 45, pages 1389–1394 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

Assess the feasibility of using a disposable pressure transducer with integrated digital display to differentiate arterial versus venous line placement in neonates.

Study design

Infants ≥23 weeks’ gestation with appropriately placed umbilical catheters were enrolled. A single baseline pressure reading was obtained, hypothesizing that arterial placement could be differentiated with a pressure ≥12 mmHg.

Results

Forty-five infants were enrolled to obtain 62 measurements, 31 from both umbilical artery catheters(UAC) and umbilical venous catheters(UVC). 100% of UAC were ≥12 mmHg and 87% of UVC were <12 mmHg. Median device pressures for UAC and UVC were 41 mmHg (IQR 31–45 mmHg) and 5 mmHg (IQR 3–9 mmHg) (p-value < 0.0001). An optimal venous device pressure cut point was determined to be 21 mmHG (97% sensitivity, 100% specificity, AUC 0.98).

Conclusion

This transducer is likely safe and can differentiate line placement in arterial and venous systems. 12 mmHg appears to reliably identify lines placed in the arterial system, but 21 mmHG was found to be the optimal venous cut point.

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Fig. 6: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and corresponding area under the curve (AUC) statistics evaluating the best cut point for venous device pressure.

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Data availability

The datasets and materials analyzed for this study are available through contact with the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to extend a thank you to Danielle Brooks for her clinical expertise and to Yana Feygin and Mst Sharmin Akter Sumy for providing statistical support for this project. I would also like to thank Roger Soll, MD for his help with the study design and review of the manuscript.

Funding

Norton Healthcare provided funding for this project by purchasing the 62 disposable pressure transducers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA

    Carrie Moore, Lori A. Devlin, Cynthia Crabtree, Amanda Farris & Keri Marques

  2. Neonatology, Norton Children’s Hospital, Louisville, KY, USA

    Carrie Moore, Lori A. Devlin, Cynthia Crabtree, Amanda Farris & Keri Marques

  3. Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Joshua Kurtz

  4. Norton Children’s Hospital Heart Institute, Louisville, KY, USA

    Joshua Kurtz

Authors
  1. Carrie Moore
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  2. Lori A. Devlin
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  3. Cynthia Crabtree
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  4. Amanda Farris
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  5. Joshua Kurtz
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  6. Keri Marques
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Contributions

Carrie Moore helped to design this project and wrote the manuscript. Keri Marques helped to design this project and edited the manuscript. Lori Devlin, Cynthia Crabtree, Amanda Farris, and Joshua Kurtz helped with project design and edited the manuscript

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carrie Moore.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This project was approved by the University of Louisville Institutional Review Board (IRB# 21.0848) and the Norton Healthcare Research Office (RO# 22-N0047) and informed consent was obtained from the legal guardians prior to the initiation of all study procedures. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

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Moore, C., Devlin, L.A., Crabtree, C. et al. Disposable pressure transducer to identify central pressure measurements in umbilical lines for preterm and term infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. J Perinatol 45, 1389–1394 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02338-6

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