[Evaluation of implantable sites in medical oncology in Tunisia. Prospective study of 205 cases]

Implantable port thrombosis in cancer patients: a monocentric experience

Objective:

Implantable port thrombosis (IPT) in cancer patients is a relatively rare but severe complication. Several factors are reportedly associated with the occurrence of thrombosis. We aimed to describe the prevalence and the anatomoclinical features of IPT observed in cancer patients who were treated in a medical oncology department in Tunisia.

Methods:

A total of 600 cancer patients who had port implantation from January 2013 to December 2015 were retrospectively identified. Cases with symptomatic/incidental IPT (radiologically confirmed) were further identified. Epidemiological and anatomoclinical features were collected from patient records and the department database.

Results:

We observed that 33 of the 600 patients had IPT; thus, the prevalence was 5.5%. The median age was 57 years, and the gender ratio was 0.43. Overweight or obesity was observed in 73% of the patients. IPT occurred mainly in patients with breast (36.4%) and colorectal (33.3%) cancers, which were mostly nonmetastatic (79%). At least one identified classical thromboembolic risk factor was found in 13 patients (smoking in 9, tamoxifen in 2). IPT was symptomatic in 93% of the cases, occurring within an average time of 56 days. Implantable ports were removed because of infection in 2 cases and nonfunctionality in 3 cases. IPT treatment was based on low-molecular-weight heparins (94%) and antivitamin K (6%) for an average of 130 days. Four patients had post-therapy complications: one thrombosis recurrence and three infections.

Conclusions:

IPT cases in the 600 patients were observed to occur in obese nonmetastatic cancer patients within the first 3 months after IP implantation.

Increased use of percutaneous technique for totally implantable venous access devices. Is it real progress? A 27-year comprehensive review on early complications

BACKGROUND

First implantation of a totally implantable venous access device (TIVAD) was performed in 1982 with surgical technique. Since then, these devices have permitted infusion of total parenteral nutrition, antibiotics, blood products, and, above all, they have definitively changed the quality of life of patients with cancer. However, with the increase of percutaneous procedures, we have assisted with a concomitant raise of immediate postprocedural life-threatening complications. The aim of this study was to review the literature during a 27-year period, with regard to the changes of incidence of immediate complications after percutaneous or surgical cutdown for TIVAD's implant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An extensive search of relevant literature was carried out by using MEDLINE (PubMed) and Google Scholar. We gathered articles from 1982 to 2009 that quoted patient's number, type of pathology, specialist involved, number of devices implanted, site and technique of implantation (surgical cutdown or percutaneous technique), and immediate complications occurrence.

RESULTS

A total of 952 reports were screened, and finally only 45 articles addressing all inclusion criteria were used for the present study. A total of 11,430 TIVADs implanted in 11,381 patients were analyzed. Pneumothorax, hemothorax, arterial puncture, and hemoptysis developed only after percutaneous procedures. Atrial fibrillation, hematomas, and malpositioning were more frequent after percutaneous approach. The total amount of immediate complications in patients submitted to percutaneous implant was 4.5%, compared with 0.9% subsequent to cutdown technique.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the increased use of percutaneous technique for TIVADs' implantation, surgical cutdown, because of its safety, remains the best approach to avoid possible fatal immediate complications.

Profil épidémiologique et complications des voies veineuses centrales en oncologie pédiatrique : à propos de 125 cas

OBJECTIVE

To report the indications and early and late catheter-related complications in a Tunisian unit of paediatric oncology.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This prospective study has been performed in a paediatric oncology unit of the Salah Azaïz Institute between 1989 and 2005. It concerns 58 girls and 57 boys with a median age of 7.9 years(4 months to 18 years) treated for cancer disease predominantly lymphoma (22%), sarcoma (23.2%) or leukaemia (8.5%) proposed for insertion of a central venous catheter (CVC).

RESULTS

Excluding 2 insertion failures (1.6%), we placed 123 CVC (double for 10 patients), 43 (35%) exteriorised (EC) and 80 (65%) connected to an implantable site (IS). Catheters were placed in the subclavian vein in 59.2% of cases vs 32% for internal jugular vein and 8.8% for femoral vein. Early complications included 15 cases of multiple punctures (12%), 4 cases of pneumothorax (3.2%) and 6 of arterial punctures (4.8%) originating a cervical subcutaneous haematoma in 1 patient (0.8%). Late complications were represented by infection in 7 cases (5.7%). We observed 2 cases of intracardiac catheter migration due to catheter disconnection from the IS (1.6%) and 2 cases of thrombosis (1.8%). The mean life of CVC was longer for IS (305.2 days) than for EC (64.4 days).

CONCLUSION

Implantable sites are effective progress for venous access in children with cancer. They improved the quality of care in pediatric oncology.