KaraB

Yes, we do a saline flush and then a hep lock.

It’s a power port! I feel like something is off. The patient doesn’t typically complain and the port has been fine for the 8+ months I’ve been working with her. The whole scenario is odd, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

It depends on the week. We usually access twice. She doesn’t like to leave it in for 3 days, but is willing to leave it in for one night. I don’t blame her..it can’t be super comfortable to sleep with a needle in your chest.

Infusions are 3 days in a row, every 14 days. Days are long...8+ hours of constant use.

IVIG, Soliris, and fluids occasionally

The needle is definitely long enough. The pain seems to be near the body of the port, medially. There was some redness in the same area during the last infusion, but the patient was holding the painful area so I think it was from the pressure of her pushing. The dye study found no evidence of leakage around the port and the catheter tip is in the correct location. I don’t think it’s infected. No tenderness, redness, etc when not in use. Maybe we’ll try a larger gauge needle and see how that goes...

This is a new complaint. The Dr is aware, but patient does not want to remove/replace port and is a really hard stick for a peripheral IV (3 sticks with no access last time). Is it possible that the vein is just sore? Would a larger gauge needle put less pressure on the inside of the port when infusing? I’m thinking the smaller gauge would cause the medication to put more pressure because the opening is smaller. That may be completely wrong. We use a 22 gauge now.

Hello, I was hoping someone had some advice on a port-a-cath issue. The patient has had her port for 2 years and is now complaining of burning when flushing and during infusions running at a high rate. A dye study was done and everything looks fine. Blood return is great and it isn’t hard to flush.