TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 1995 , Vol 10 , Num 3
ADVANTAGES OF TOTALLY IMPLANTED SYSTEM FOR INTRAVENOUS CHEMOTHERAPY
SIDIKA KURUL, TÜLAY AYDIN, ADNAN AYDINER, SEVİL İNANÇ, HALUK ONAT, EMİN DARENDELİLER, CEMALETTİN TOPUZLU, ERKAN TOPUZ
İstanbul Ü. Onkoloji Enstitüsü Cerrahi Onkoloji Ünitesi BD We retrospectively evaluated the performance and rate of early and long term complications with the port-catheter (Implantofix/B. Braun Melsungen AG), a totally implanted vascular access system. The catheter was implanted in 50 patients with solid tumors who were treated with chemotherapy lacked peripheral venous sites. Complications with the catheter consisted of trombotic occlusion (two patients, 4%) and two possible episodes of infection (4%) which were not confirmed by bacteriologic examination. The catheters were removed in these patients and new catheters implanted in two. Skin necrosis in one (2%) and cytostatic paravasation in one (2%) patient were detected as port amplications. The results suggest that this system appears to be an alternative means of safe and reliable central venous access with better psychological and cosmetic acceptability. Keywords :