Table 1.
Patient and catheter characteristicsa
| Characteristic | Value(s) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Group A | Group B | |
| No. of patients | 360 | 222 (61.7) | 138 (38.3) |
| Median age (IQR) in yr | 56.19 (0–87) | 54.27 (18.06) | 58.2 (16–87) |
| Male | 167 (44.9) | 90 (40.5) | 73 (52.9) |
| Underlying disease | |||
| Cancer | 303 (83.9) | 223 (100) | 80 (58.0) |
| Renal failure | 58 (16.1) | 0 (0.0) | 58 (42.0) |
| Cumulative no. of days of catheter use | 164,582 | 139,120 | 25,462 |
| Median (IQR) no. of days of catheter use | 270 (83.25–622.50) | 440 (212–907) | 137 (59–237) |
| Median (IQR) no. of times of catheter use | 20 (0.0–50.0) | 20 (1.75–50.0) | 40 (20–72) |
| Type of catheter | |||
| Port-A-Cath | 223 (59.9) | 223 (100) | 0 (0.0) |
| Hickman | 89 (23.9) | 0 (0.0) | 89 (59.7) |
| Permcath | 60 (16.1) | 0 (0.0) | 60 (40.3) |
| Site of catheter insertion | |||
| Jugular vein | 335 (90.1) | 202 (90.6) | 133 (89.3) |
| Subclavian vein | 37 (9.9) | 21 (9.4) | 16 (10.7) |
| Reason for catheter withdrawal | |||
| End of use | 220 (59.1) | 135 (60.5) | 85 (57.0) |
| Suspicion of bloodstream infection | 84 (22.6) | 44 (19.7) | 40 (26.8) |
| Suspicion of local infection | 37 (9.9) | 22 (9.9) | 15 (10.1) |
| Obstruction-malfunction | 22 (5.9) | 15 (6.7) | 7 (4.7) |
| Thrombosis | 6 (1.6) | 4 (1.8) | 2 (1.3) |
| Other | 3 (0.8) | 3 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) |
| Appearance of insertion site | |||
| Intact | 316 (84.9) | 192 (86.1) | 124 (83.2) |
| Swollen | 42 (11.3) | 18 (8.1) | 24 (16.1) |
| Ulcerated | 11 (3.0) | 10 (4.5) | 1 (0.7) |
| Suppurative | 3 (0.8) | 3 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) |
| Catheter colonization | 87 (23.4) | 48 (21.5) | 39 (26.2) |
| Microorganisms isolated in colonized catheters | |||
| Gram-positive bacteria | 78 (72.9) | 44 (74.6) | 34 (70.8) |
| Gram-negative bacteria | 18 (16.8) | 8 (13.6) | 10 (20.8) |
| Yeasts | 11 (10.3) | 7 (11.9) | 4 (8.3) |
| Total | 107 | 59 | 48 |
a
Values represent numbers (%) of patients except where otherwise indicated. Group A, totally implantable venous access ports; group B, long-term tunneled catheters; IQR, interquartile range.