Port catheter complications and thrombosis issues: assessment of 114 patients with port catheter implantation by single surgeon

Abstract

Background: We provided a comparative presentation of complications seen in 114 patients with port catheter implantation. In addition, we addressed whether patients with catheter-related thrombosis have distinctive features by assessing patients who developed thrombosis either at the catheter implant site or vascular bed. Methods: In this study, we analyzed data from 114 patients who underwent subclavian venous port catheter implantation by a single surgeon at Kayseri Teaching Hospital (Turkey) during 2013 to 2016. Subclavian port catheter was inserted in all cases. The diagnosis of port thrombosis was made by Doppler sonography or thorax CT scan with contrast enhancement in patients presenting with edema at upper extremity, swelling or pain at neck, and/or dysfunctional port. Results: Seroma was detected in only one case, lymphedema developed in one case (0.8%), and pneumothorax was observed in 3 cases. The subclavian vein was implanted on the right side in all patients with pneumothorax. None of these cases were associated with thrombosis. Port infection was observed in one case (0.8%). There was also one case (0.8%) of skin necrosis. The port was removed in 15 patients due to several reasons, which are indicated in Table 2. Thromboembolic events were observed in 11 of the 114 patients while port thrombosis was observed in 7 patients. The rate of hypertension in the thromboembolism group was 61.1% (11/18 individual) while the rate of hypertension in the group without thromboembolism was 28.1% (27/96 individuals); this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.006). Conclusion: In this study, based on complications observed in patients with catheter-related thrombosis, factors such as smoking or diabetes mellitus were seen to be linked to thromboembolism and should be taken into consideration. Moreover, it was observed that hypertension had a significant association with thromboembolism.