title: Seventy-two patients' experience with an implantable drug delivery system for chemotherapy or total parenteral nutrition.
abstract: An implantable drug delivery system will play an important role for patients who need chemotherapy or prolonged total parenteral nutrition in the future. We implanted 72 injection capsules in 74 patients who were undergoing aggressive chemotherapy or total parenteral nutrition programs. These capsules were implanted in different positions, including central access in 67 cases, peritoneal cavity in 1, hepatic artery in 2, portal vein in 1 and intrathecal space in 1. The actual median functional survival of the injection capsules was 12.3 months (range, 2 months to 4 years). The total cumulative puncture numbers were 1651 (range, 5 to 153; median 23). There was no unsuccessful instance in infusion or injection. To date, 27 patients still survive. The complication rate was about 7% including 1 sepsis, 1 skin infection, 1 catheter thrombosis, 1 dislodgement of reservoir and 1 catheter-reservoir disengagement, which were all corrected by a secondary operation without mortality. Patency of the Port-A-Cath system was maintained using a regular flushing schedule once every 30 days. The results of this study suggest that the implantable drug delivery system can provide a safe and reliable method for venous access or even arterious access in patients requiring intermittent or prolonged intravenous therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic-Cardiovascular Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015918:Infusion Pumps, Implantable; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010289:Parenteral Nutrition, Total / Q000379:methods*