[Venous reservoirs: the late complications according to the route of implantation. The Interhospital Group of Valencia (GIHV)].

UNLABELLED: The aim of the study which we present is to analyze the incidence of late complications, clinical and sub-clinical, of venous reservoirs implanted through two access routes, subclavian (group A), and brachial (group B). It is a multi-centric clinical study, initiated in 1992, in which the general surgery departments of three general hospitals of the Valencian Community were involved. It is made up of 87 patients, 48 men and 39 women, with a mean age (SD) of 57.1 (12.6) years, of whom we made a late review of 41 patients (29 from group A and 12 from group B). They were subjected to a physical examination, bacterial cultures of the entrance, and phlebograms of the upper extremities through the dorsal veins of the hands.

RESULTS: The incidence of clinical complications was 39% in group A and 77% in group B (p = 0.0507). The main clinical complications were minimally symptomatic venous thrombosis, catheter thrombosis, infection, and miscellaneous (migration, paresthesias, articular movement alterations, etc.). And the prevalence of phlebographic venous thrombosis was 18% in group A and 40% in group B (p = 0.051).

CONCLUSIONS: The subclavian access for the implantation of venous reservoirs has a lower incidence (with a tendency towards clinical significance) of clinical complications and subclinical venous thrombosis (Phlebogram) than the brachial access.