An interventional study of Combined IC-ECG and Ultrasound PICC Tip Location Technique and IC-ECG PICC Tip Location Technique in PICC Line Placement and Tip Location, sponsored by Sun Yat-sen University. Completed at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-22.
Sponsored by Sun Yat-sen University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if using IC-ECG together with ultrasound works better than either method alone to identify the tip position of a PICC in adults with cancer. It will also learn about the safety and efficiency of the combined method.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does the combined method confirm the correct PICC tip position more often than IC-ECG alone or ultrasound alone?
Does the combined method find PICC malposition more accurately?
Does the combined method take less time to complete tip positioning?
What medical problems do participants have during or after the procedure?
Researchers will compare three groups: IC-ECG alone, ultrasound alone, and IC-ECG plus ultrasound. A chest X-ray will be used as the standard check to see if the PICC tip is in the correct place.
Participants will:
Be adults with cancer who need a PICC.
Be assigned by chance to one of the three groups.
Have their PICC placed using the assigned tip-positioning method.
Have a chest X-ray as the usual standard check.
Allow the research team to record the procedure time, success, malposition, and any problems.
Not pay for the IC-ECG or ultrasound tip-positioning tests used in the study. Chest X-ray is part of usual care and will be charged as usual.
This study may help hospitals reduce routine X-ray use after PICC placement, lower radiation exposure, and make PICC placement safer and faster
Sun Yat-sen University is the lead sponsor of 1,681 studies on the registry; 610 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants in this arm receive tip location using only intracavitary electrocardiography (IC-ECG). The tip position is verified in real time by observing the characteristic P-wave changes.
Procedure: IC-ECG PICC Tip Location Technique
Participants in this arm receive tip location using only the ultrasound bubble test. The tip position is verified by observing microbubbles in the superior vena cava.
Procedure: Ultrasound PICC Tip Location Technique
Participants in this arm receive tip location using the combined strategy of IC-ECG and the ultrasound bubble test. Verification is based on both P-wave changes and microbubble observation.
Procedure: Combined IC-ECG and Ultrasound PICC Tip Location Technique
Participants in this arm receive tip location using the combined strategy of IC-ECG and the ultrasound bubble test. Verification is based on both P-wave changes and microbubble observation.
Participants in this arm receive tip location using only intracavitary electrocardiography (IC-ECG). The tip position is verified in real time by observing the characteristic P-wave changes.
Participants in this arm receive tip location using only the ultrasound bubble test. The tip position is verified by observing microbubbles in the superior vena cava.
Optimal PICC tip placement rate
The proportion of participants whose PICC tip is successfully placed at the optimal position (defined as the lower third of the superior vena cava or the cavoatrial junction), confirmed by chest X-ray (CXR).
Time frame: At the completion of the PICC insertion procedure.
Number of catheter repositioning attempts
The number of times the catheter was withdrawn and readvanced after malposition (e.g., tip in the internal jugular vein, azygos vein, or right atrium) was confirmed.
Time frame: During the PICC insertion procedure.
Number of localisation procedures
The number of independent tip-localisation manoeuvres (e.g., IC-ECG recordings or ultrasound scans) performed to confirm the tip position, excluding instances where the catheter was physically repositioned.
Time frame: During the PICC insertion procedure.
Localisation time
The time from the initiation of tip localisation (i.e., when the catheter reached the estimated insertion length) to the final confirmation of the tip position.
Time frame: During the PICC insertion procedure.
Push-to-bubbles duration
The duration from the start of agitated saline injection to the visualization of microbubbles in the right atrium, as assessed by transthoracic echocardiography.
Time frame: During the PICC insertion procedure.
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: No
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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