Hickman catheters for chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia
Hvid, K.; Rosenborg, D.
Ugeskrift for Laeger 167(48): 4566-4569
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 1603-6824 PMID: 16324439 Document Number: 586107
Permanent venous catheters are part of the treatment of haematology patients. 191 tunnelled catheters inserted in 146 patients in a 51-month period at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, were analysed prospectively. The median catheter life span was 400 days, according to the Kaplan-Meier plot. The rate of premature removal was 1.94 per 1,000 catheter days, and the infection rate was 1.04 per 1,000 catheter days. There was no significant relationship between complications noted during operation, length of operation, age and gender and rate of premature removal. The rate of premature removal did not change during the study. Further investigations are needed to determine which episodes during operation have an impact on catheter life span.