Skin and soft tissue complications in pediatric leukemia patients with and without central venous catheters

We aimed to retrospectively evaluate the skin and soft tissue complications secondary to procedures in acute leukemia patients with and without catheters. Eighty-seven acute leukemia patients (75 acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 12 acute myeloid leukemia ) were included. There were 30 patients with 37 catheter use (6 port, 31 Hickman catheter) and 57 patients without catheter. In patients with catheters, skin and soft tissue complications were seen in 20 (66%) children. The most frequent complication was cellulitis (55%). In the patients without catheter, skin and soft tissue complications were seen in 37 (65%) patients. Cellulitis (37.8%) and extravasation (37.8%) were the most frequent causes. When the frequency of skin and soft tissue complications in patients with and without catheters were compared with each other, there was statistically no significant difference (P=0.792). The duration of chemotherapy was significantly longer in patients who developed skin and soft tissue complications with or without catheters when compared with the duration of the therapy in patients without any skin and soft tissue complications (259.2+/-36.3 and 218.3+/-58.3 d, respectively; P<0.0001). In pediatric leukemia patients, with or without catheters, skin and soft tissue complications are common and these complications may prolong the duration of chemotherapy.