You have obtained the following chest radiograph for your patient. Which of the following is the most appropriate clinical action?
Postprocedure radiologic evaluations can be used to quickly confirm appropriate positioning of lines and tubes and rule out acute procedural complications. The chest radiograph presented would allow clinicians to rule out the occurrence of (immediate) pneumothorax and demonstrates the right subclavian central line terminating within the right atrium. Classic teaching instructs us to position the line such that it terminates at the distal aspect of the superior vena cava; that is, at the cavoatrial junction. A line terminating in the atrium may increase the risk of arrhythmias or even lead to cardiac perforation and tamponade. The central line shown should be retracted. The cavoatrial junction can be quickly identified on chest radiography; a quick approach is to simply count two vertebral bodies inferior to the carina.
The image shows an...