Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;28(10):4753-4760.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-019-05276-0. Epub 2020 Jan 22.

Peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) in outpatient and inpatient oncological treatment

Dorothea Mielke  1 , Andrea Wittig  2 , Ulf Teichgräber  3
Affiliations

Peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) in outpatient and inpatient oncological treatment

Dorothea Mielke et al. Support Care Cancer. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: So far there is little evidence on peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) in radiation oncology patients maintaining the access during the periods of ambulatory and hospital treatment.

Methods: A total of 522 PICC placements in 484 patients were performed between 11/2011 and 07/2016 at the Department of Radiation Oncology and analysed retrospectively for complications and treatment- and patient-related factors during ambulatory and hospital inpatient use. On initial hospitalization, all patients received a multimodal radio-oncological treatment consisting of radiation and intravenous therapy administered via the PICC.

Results: A total of 18,292 catheter days were documented. Median follow-up from catheter insertion to their removal was 37 days (1-97). The overall complication rate was 4.1 per 1000 catheter days (n = 75, 14.4%). Complications were similar between the cohort of outpatient 3.6 per 1000 catheter days and the cohort of inpatient 4.8 per 1000 catheter days (OR 0.976; 95% CI [0.598; 1.619]; p = 0.924). Severe bloodstream infections occurred at a rate of 0.60 per 1000 catheter days (n = 11, 2.1%), deep vein thrombosis at a rate of 0.82 per 1.000 catheter days (n = 15, 2.9%) and local inflammation at a rate of 1.26 per 1.000 catheter days (n = 23, 4.4%). Only immunotherapy could be identified as an independent risk factor for complications (OR 5.6; 95% CI [2.4; 13.1]; p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Using PICC in outpatients is not associated with an elevated risk of complications. Particular attention should be payed to early identification of PICC associated bloodstream infections. Immunotherapy is an independent risk factor for local skin complication.

Keywords: Complications; Outpatient and inpatient; PICC; Radio-oncology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The study was financed by the budgetary resources of the department of radiology, University Hospital Jena, Germany. The study was neither funded nor sponsored by a third party.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Likelihood of a complication-free PICC use
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Matsuzaki A, Suminoe A, Koga Y, Hatano M, Hattori S, Hara T. Long-term use of peripherally inserted central venous catheters for cancer chemotherapy in children. Support Care Cancer. 2006;14(2):153–160. doi: 10.1007/s00520-005-0848-x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hans M (2017) Pflegeleitfaden PICC-Line. http://radiologie.charite.de/pflegeleitfaden/
    1. Hatakeyama N, Hori T, Yamamoto M, Mizue N, Inazawa N, Igarashi K, Tsutsumi H, Suzuki N. An evaluation of peripherally inserted central venous catheters for children with cancer requiring long-term venous access. Int J Hematol. 2011;94(4):372–377. doi: 10.1007/s12185-011-0928-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hoshal VL., Jr Total intravenous nutrition with peripherally inserted silicone elastomer central venous catheters. Arch Surg. 1975;110(5):644–646. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.1975.01360110190032. - DOI - PubMed
    1. MacDonald AS, Master SK, Moffitt EA. A comparative study of peripherally inserted silicone catheters for parenteral nutrition. Can Anaesth Soc J. 1977;24(2):263–269. doi: 10.1007/BF03006239. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms