[Totally implantable catheters. Experience at the University Hospital Center Vaudois from March 1984 to December...

With cancer patients, the venous access remains a major problem. It causes phlebitis, venous sclerosis, skin necrosis and sepsis. Its maintenance implies careful nursing and a great dependence for the patient. Arterio-venous fistulas have been abandoned and replaced by Hickman-type subcutaneous indwelling catheters. These have a complication rate, mainly infectious, of about 0.4/100 days. The development of totally implanted catheters diminishes even more this rate and improves the patient's comfort. In this article we report the experience gained from 100 cancer patients equipped with 107 catheters. 31 complications occurred over a total time of 15,421 days, this averages a rate of 0.2 complications/100 days. The respectively rate of thrombosis and infections are of 0.02/100 days each. In 61% of the cases the whole system was functional after management of the complication. This results confirm the excellent tolerance of the system, its minimal rate of complication and its great possibility of reutilization.