Catheter-related complications in patients receiving home parenteral nutrition

Twenty-seven patients (22 adults, five adolescents, and one child) were treated with home parenteral nutrition (HPN) for 662 patient-months. A Broviac Silastic right atrial catheter which is tunnelled subcutaneously down the anterior chest wall served as a venous access. Thirty-four catheters were used in 27 patients, and the mean catheter life spans to date for adults and adolescents have been 21 and 14 months, respectively. There were no deaths attributable to the catheters. Infections and damaged external catheter segments were clustered in adult patients, whereas serious mechanical problems occurred in adolescents. Five of 27 patients (19%) experienced septicemia and one patient had two episodes. These six episodes (five of Staphylococcus aureus, one of Candida parapsilosis) in 662 patient-months represented only one case of sepsis every 9.1 patient-years on HPN. The external segments of 12 catheters were damaged and all were repaired in the outpatient setting. Eight of nine major mechanical problems occurred in five adolescents and one child; the most serious being four intravascular displacements, one extravascular displacement with mediastinitis, and a fractured catheter with a retained intravascular catheter segment. Although the HPN catheter is associated with definite risks, there has been a very acceptable incidence of complications resulting in a high benefit-to-risk ratio for HPN.