Venographic surveillance of tunneled venous access devices in adult oncology patients.

BACKGROUND: Tunneled venous access devices (VADs) are often essential in the care of patients with advanced malignancies, but they carry an uncertain risk of thrombosis.

METHODS: To determine the incidence of venoocclusion related to silicone VADs in a population of adult oncology patients, we prospectively studied 50 individuals with upper extremity venograms approximately 6 weeks after their VADs had been implanted. Twenty-one of these patients were reevaluated with venograms approximately 12 weeks after catheterization. In addition, venograms were performed on a separate group of 24 patients who needed catheterization of axillary-subclavian veins that had been catheterized in the past.

RESULTS: The 6-week venograms in the prospective study showed partial venous obstruction in 15 patients (30%), whereas three (6%) had developed symptomatic total venoocclusion by this time. The 12-week venograms showed two additional complete occlusions. Venograms of 30 previously catheterized veins showed complete venoocclusion in nine (30%), although only two had a history of thrombosis.

CONCLUSIONS: Our observations indicate that VADs frequently cause partial venoocclusion within the first 6 weeks of catheterization and that permanent venous damage from VADs is common, even without a history of VAD-related thrombosis.