Implantable device for venous access.

This paper reports the experience at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal with the first 50 Port-A-Cath devices implanted for venous access in patients requiring long-term chemotherapy. There were 25 women and 22 men, ranging in age from 18 to 85 years. Twenty-two devices were implanted for hematologic malignant disease, 26 for solid tumours and 2 for benign disease. The mean operative time was 46.3 minutes, using a percutaneous subclavian stick technique in 94% of insertions. Blood sampling and infusions were easy in 88% and 92% respectively. Seventy-eight percent of the patients accepted the device well. Nine devices were removed, four at the end of therapy (median functioning time of 208.5 days) and five because of sepsis (median time 18 days). The median time of the still-functioning devices in live patients is 141.5 days. Septic complications were seen in 12%, blockage in 6% and skin necrosis in 2%. One death occurred from sepsis in a poor-performance patient with stage IV breast cancer and hypercalcemia. We breast cancer and hypercalcemia. We believe that the Port-A-Cath is efficient, safe and easily accessible for patients on long-term chemotherapy.