CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF THE CORDIS VASCULAR ACCESS PORT SYSTEMS - A MULTICENTER STUDY

Two non-metallic vascular access port systems, the Multipurpose Access Port (MPAP) and Miniport, developed by CORDIS S.A., France, have been evaluated clinically in 78 cancer patients. During the investigationa l period covering a total experience of 369 treatment cycles and 1,370 infusion days, no cases of infection or septicemia were observed. Ser ious complications such as drug extravasation and catheter occlusion o ccurred, although the incidence was relatively low (+/- 1%) when compa red with the number of treatment courses (cycles), but in relation to the number of patients included in this study, the procedure-related c omplication rate was 17.5% for the MPAP and 15.8% for the Miniport Pro cedure-related complications can be avoided by proper handling and use of suitable drug combinations to minimize crystallization reactions w ithin the port-catheter systems. The final complication rate (total mi nus procedure-related) in terms of termination of treatment, i. e. exp lantation of the port-catheter system was 12.1% for the MPAP and 12.5% for the MINIPORT, which generally confirms the results of other group s. More than 87% of both port-catheter systems were still functional a t the end of evaluation.