A new approach to management of intravenous infiltration in pediatric patients: pathophysiology, classification, and treatment.

Intravenous (IV) infiltrations are problematic complications associated with hospitalization. Treatment methods vary greatly on the basis of physician judgment and institutional protocol, and uniform methods for effective prevention and economical treatment of IV infiltrations are necessary. Common in neonatal and infant patients, infiltration is frequently associated with cosmetic and functional complications. Medicolegal issues for physicians and institutions also accompany many cases of infiltration. This article discusses the pathophysiology of IV infiltrations. It also presents a new scale for IV infiltrations that more accurately reflects issues common to neonatal and pediatric patients and describes a novel, noninvasive treatment. A quantitative study of the decrease in morbidity after implementing this protocol will be conducted pending institutional approval.