[Venous access by intraosseous access in medical urgencies].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: First introduced in 1922, the intraosseous access technique was extensively used in the 1940's and revised in the 1980's. Since this technique is recommended in actual cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidelines, the authors present an historical and clinical review of intraosseous access to the venous system.

CONTENTS: The MedLine (1950 to January 2008) database was searched for pertinent abstracts, using the key term intraosseous access. Additional references and historical papers were obtained from the bibliographies of the articles reviewed. Manufacturer Web sites were used to obtain information about intraosseous venous (IO) insertion devices. Were identified and reviewed 231 articles, and this present article condensed the mainly the principal findings described. All available English-language clinical trials, retrospective studies and review articles describing IO drug administration were reviewed.

CONCLUSIONS: The intraosseous access is used mainly to gain rapid access to the intravenous system when there is delay in obtaining the latter one. The technique is simple to learn. The complications rate is less than 1%. Most emergency drugs can be administered in the same doses used by intravenous routes. Bone access can be used in children and adults of any age in several sites. This access can be used satisfactorily to draw blood for cross-matching, blood gases and blood chemistries and emergency infusion of blood and its derivatives, saline solutions for volume replacement in shock, cardiac arrest and emergencies when an intravenous access cannot be made readily available.