Key result
Leaving a retained, stuck central venous port catheter fragment in place without free intravascular motion resulted in 0 apparent complications in 1 18-year-old patient.
Why the study?
Difficulty removing central venous ports in children is generally uncommon, leading the authors to present a rare case of intraoperative difficulty with port removal resulting in catheter breakage.
Case Report (n=1)
In cases of stuck central venous ports in children where the catheter breaks but has no free intravascular motion, it may be reasonable to leave the retained fragment in place.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support conservative retention of immobile stuck port fragments in adolescents; hypothesis-generating and requires larger studies before practice change.
: Difficulty removing central venous ports in children is generally uncommon. We present a rare case of intraoperative difficulty with port removal that resulted in catheter breakage. : An 18-year-old girl presented for port removal nearly six years after placement. The catheter was stuck intraoperatively and despite increased tension, proximal dissection, and extraction attempts with a wire, a portion of the catheter broke off intravascularly. Since intraoperative fluoroscopy confirmed that neither end of the catheter had free intravascular motion, the catheter was left in place. The patient has had no apparent complications from this retained portion of the catheter. : It is uncommon to have great difficulty removing a port in a child but in cases where the catheter is stuck, multiple techniques can be attempted intraoperatively to improve chances of removal. If the catheter breaks intraoperatively but has no free intravascular motion on fluoroscopy, it may be reasonable to leave the retained fragment in place and obtain interval imaging to ensure the fragment has not moved.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Bergus et al. (2024) conducted a case report in Stuck central venous port (n=1). Leaving retained catheter fragment in place was evaluated on Complications from retained catheter portion. Leaving a retained, stuck central venous port catheter fragment in place without free intravascular motion resulted in 0 apparent complications in 1 18-year-old patient.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: