Utility and safety of Hickman catheters for venous access after bone marrow transplantation.

Hickman catheters are useful for vascular access after bone marrow transportation because they can handle large volume and allow for easy transfusions and blood drawing through wide double lumens making it easier to case for patients under sterile conditions in a clean room. However, the safety of Hickman catheters as compared to Silastic catheters in marrow transplants has never been discussed. We therefore retrospectively reviewed the complications of two catheters in 71 allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipients between September 1986 and August 1994. The complication and infection rates of Hickman catheters were 0.21 and 0.09 per 100 device-life days, and rate of temperature >38 degrees C during leukocytopenia (<1,000 white blood cells) was 0.18. These rates were not different from those of Silastic catheters suggesting that Hickman catheters are safe and acceptable in marrow transplantation. The benefits and drawbacks of Hickman catheters relevant to catheter choice were also discussed.