Venous cutdown

Venous cutdown is an emergency procedure in which the vein is exposed surgically and then a cannula is inserted into the vein under direct vision. It is used to get vascular access in trauma and hypovolemic shock patients when peripheral cannulation is difficult or impossible. The saphenous vein is most commonly used. This procedure has fallen out of favor with the development of safer techniques for central venous catheterization such as the Seldinger technique, the modified Seldinger technique, Accelerated Seldinger Technique, intraosseous infusion, as well as the use of ultrasound guidance for placement of central venous catheters without using the cutdown technique.