Thrombotic complications of central venous catheters in cancer patients

Today many patients with cancer have indwelling longterm central venous cat heters. Benefits from catheter use include increased ease of administration of either chemotherapy or other drugs. However, these patients are prone t o a number of complications, including deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and inf ection. Two kinds of catheter-related thrombi may develop: sleeve thrombi d eveloping on the outside of intravenous catheters and occlusive DVT. Recent studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of pulmonary embolism in pat ients with arm DVT is high, and it is close to that observed in cohorts of patients with lower-extremity DVT. Accordingly, some kind of prophylaxis se ems to be warranted. Furthermore, patients with confirmed catheter-related DVT should receive long-term anticoagulant therapy. Copyright (C) 2001 S. K arger AG, Basel.