RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Reducing pain by using venous blood gas instead of arterial blood gas (VEINART): a multicentre randomised controlled trial
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 756
OP 761
DO 10.1136/emermed-2019-209287
VO 37
IS 12
A1 Anthony Chauvin
A1 Nicolas Javaud
A1 Aiham Ghazali
A1 Sonja Curac
A1 Adrien Altar
A1 Talina Ali
A1 Nora Beguin
A1 Julien Bellier
A1 Antoine Coupier
A1 Laura Delsarte
A1 Dora Dreyfuss
A1 Nour Kheirbek
A1 Clara Oudar
A1 Yoann Stordeur
A1 Morgane Weiss
A1 Stephane Gaudry
A1 Jerome Lambert
A1 Damien Roux
YR 2020
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/37/12/756.abstract
AB Introduction Venous sampling for blood gas analysis has been suggested as an alternative to arterial sampling in order to reduce pain. The main objective was to compare pain induced by venous and arterial sampling and to assess whether the type of sampling would affect clinical management or not.Methods We performed an open-label randomised multicentre prospective study in four French EDs during a 4-week period. Non-hypoxaemic adults, whose medical management required blood gas analysis, were randomly allocated using a computer-generated randomisation list stratified by centres with an allocation ratio of 1:1 using random blocks to one of the two arms: venous or arterial sampling. The primary outcome was the maximal pain during sampling, using the visual analogue scale. Secondary outcomes pertained to ease of sampling as rated by the nurse drawing the blood, and physician satisfaction regarding usefulness of biochemical data.Results 113 patients were included: 55 in the arterial and 58 in the venous sampling group. The mean maximal pain was 40.5 mm±24.9 mm and 22.6 mm±20.2 mm in the arterial group and the venous group, respectively, accounting for a mean difference of 17.9 mm (95% CI 9.6 to 26.3) (p<0.0001). Ease of blood sampling was greater in the venous group as compared with the arterial group (p=0.02). The usefulness of the results, evaluated by the prescriber, did not significantly differ (p=0.25).Conclusions Venous blood gas is less painful for patients than ABG in non-hypoxaemic patients. Venous blood gas should replace ABG in this setting.Trial registration number NCT03784664.