The Care of Central Venous Catheters in the Oncopediatric Department

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Childhood cancer, with its major psycho-social and health impact, needs long-term chemotherapy. Increasing the intensity of treatment results in improved outcomes of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. As cytostatics have a vascular irritating effect and multiple peripheric venous punctures cause pain, insertion of a long-term central venous catheter (CVC) during chemotherapy is often necessary. Materials and methods: All pediatric patients (aged below 18 years) with hematologic and malignant pathologies who underwent CVC insertion at the Pediatric Hemato-oncology Department of the County Emergency Clinical Hospital of Tîrgu Mureș in the February 2014 – May 2016 period were enrolled in the study. Results: We recorded 24 cases who received central venous catheters, out of which 14 patients received tunneled CVC, 7 patients port CVC, and 3 patients received initially tunneled CVC which was changed with port CVC. Tunneled catheters were preserved in average for 186.06 days and portacaths for 256.6 days. For infection prophylaxis and treatment every child received adequate antibiotic medication. Conclusions: The use of central lines in pediatric hemato-oncology is accessible and benefic not only for increasing patient comfort, but also to ease the nurses' work, who are often overburdened.