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Comparison of infections in hickman and implanted port catheters in adult solid tumor patients
Author(s) -
Pegues David,
Axelrod Peter,
McClarren Carol,
Eisenberg Burton L.,
Hoffman John P.,
Ottery Faith D.,
Keidan Richard D.,
Boraas Marcia,
Weese James
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930490306
Subject(s) - medicine , catheter , port (circuit theory) , surgery , complication , retrospective cohort study , prospective cohort study , engineering , electrical engineering
Long term therapy of oncology patients has been facilitated by permanent indwelling central venous catheters, but catheterrelated infections remain a serious complication of their use. Using a retrospective matched cohort design, we compared the risk of catheterrelated infection in 47 adult solid tumor patients with right atrial Hickman catheters and 94 patients with totally implanted port catheters. Patients were matched for primary solid tumor, presence of metastases, age, gender, and date of catheter insertion. Seven of 47 patients with Hickman catheters developed catheterrelated infection (1.8 infections/1,000 catheter days at risk) compared with 10 of 94 patients with implanted port catheters (0.4/1000 catheter days p < 0.0002). Hickman catheters were used more often for terminally ill patients than were port catheters which was a potential source of bias, but results were unchanged after stratifying patients on lifespan. Our study suggests that there are fewer infections in port than in Hickman catheters in adult patients with solid tumors, but prospective randomized studies are needed.