Need Advice

[ntiseo]

Hi, I am an oncology nurse that is need of some advice. There is a new medication for prostate cancer that requires a patient placement of a permacath for Leukaphoresis. This will take place every 2 weeks x 3 treatments. The permacath is placed only for the purpose of the Leukaphoresis and will only be used by the Red Cross Apharesis Team. We recently received conflicting instructions on care and maintenance of the Permacath. How often should this be flushed if it is only used every 2 weeks. What is the procedure? Please help!

[Tish88]

You should not worry about doing anything with the perm cath. The pheresis team will do the flushing and packing it with heparin between treatments. This is the same concept as a perm cath for dialysis.

These catheters do not get flushed between treatments. The pheresis team should also be doing the dressing changes too.