Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the effects of normal saline (NS) and heparinized saline (HS) in maintening patency of arterial lines for invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring. Methods: The following electronic database were investigated: PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang The studies of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) on the effects of NS versus HS in arterial lines were included. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias from all identified studies. Then RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. Results: A total of 14 RCTs involving 1 593 patients were included. For the risk of bias, 3 articles are A grade and 11 are B grade. The results of meta-analysis showed that there were significant differences between the NS group and HS group in the occlusion rate, the incidence of bleeding, incidence of coagulation changes and the catheter indwelling days. However, the results showed that there were no significant differences in the incidence of arteritis. Conclusion: The heparinized saline can reduce the occlusion rate in remaining potency of arterial lines and expand the catheter indwelling days for invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring. Normal saline may reduce bleeding rate and coagulation function changes in patients. Their effect on the incidence of arteritis is not found different. To provide the right solution to the patients, the nurses should considering the patients' sensitivity to heparin, the life expectancy of the catheter and the risk of obstruction.

Key words: invasive arterial blood pressure ; normal saline; heparinized saline; Meta-analysis; systematic review