[Ron Miser]

HELP. I need some documentation. Our Bone Marrow Unit uses the dialysis caths for IV lines. The now flush with 25u/ml of Heparin but can't find any literature to back me up to change or validate this practice. I am doing the data collection now to look at the statistics. Anyone that could give me any info would have me forever in their debt. I just need to know that I am not crazy and that this isn't common procedure.. THANKS

[Susanne T]

Ron,
When you say dialysis cath I assume you mean large bore. We use vas caths, but I can't remember what brand. We dicourage any use of them by anyone but dialysis, and we instill a great dael of heparin in ours--2500u per port (2.5 cc NS). This is of course withdrawn prior to any pursuant infusion. If you are talking about implanted caths like a Groshong or the smaller Quentins, no, we don't use heparin. We use only Saline. We ust the 25u/cc flush in triple lumen caths in unused ports. If the cathter is valved we use saline only. Hope this helps.

[Janet Barclay]

Hi Ron,
At our institution we have started using trisodium citrate to lock all of our vascaths (we use several different types). 3ml of preprepared sol'n per port. We used to lock them with 5000u heparin per port using the manufacturers reccomendation for volume.