Experience with an indwelling right atrial catheter for home parenteral nutrition

In 94 patients, 137 permanent Silastic central venous catheters were inserted. Of these, 53 catheters were removed because of catheter related problems. The average duration of catheter use was 12 months. However, the catheter was only removed once every 31 patient months because of catheter dysfunction and once every 82 months because of catheter related sepsis. None of the patients died from catheter related septicemia. We believe this low complication rate of catheter related complications represents an acceptable risk for those patients who will benefit from home parenteral nutrition.