Physiology and clinical utility of the peripheral venous waveform

• Main Authors: Devin Chang, Philip J Leisy, Jenna H Sobey, Srijaya K Reddy, Colleen Brophy, Bret D Alvis, Kyle Hocking, Monica Polcz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-10-01
• Series: JRSM Cardiovascular Disease
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2048004020970038

The peripheral venous system serves as a volume reservoir due to its high compliance and can yield information on intravascular volume status. Peripheral venous waveforms can be captured by direct transduction through a peripheral catheter, non-invasive piezoelectric transduction, or gleaned from other waveforms such as the plethysmograph. Older analysis techniques relied upon pressure waveforms such as peripheral venous pressure and central venous pressure as a means of evaluating fluid responsiveness. Newer peripheral venous waveform analysis techniques exist in both the time and frequency domains, and have been applied to various clinical scenarios including hypovolemia (i.e. hemorrhage, dehydration) and volume overload.