Current Thoracic Surgery 2022 , Vol 7 , Issue 3
Reason based analysis of totally implantable venous access port explanted oncology patients: a single-center study
Hüseyin Ulaş Çınar1
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Biruni University Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey DOI : 10.26663/cts.2022.019 Viewed : 2466 - Downloaded : 945 Background: Explantation of totally implantable venous access port (TIVAP) is of great importance as it may interrupt treatment in oncology patients. The aim of this study is to determine the reasons of TIVAP explantation, the relationship between TIVAP in situ time and early explantation for these reasons, and also to analyze the effect of increasing experience over time on these results.

Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent TIVAP explantation between 2014 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic characteristics of the patients, indications for TIVAP implantation and explantation, the TIVAPs’ in situ time, early explantation rate and post-explant complications were investigated. The results obtained were compared in two time periods (January 2014-June 2017 and July 2017-December 2020).

Results: A total of 90 patients were analyzed. The mean age was 58.7 ± 10.2. While TIVAP implantation was most frequently performed for digestive tract cancers (73%), the most common cause of TIVAP explantation was an infection (53.3%). In patients with TIVAP explant due to infection, mean TIVAP in situ time (73 days) was significantly shorter compared to other reasons (p < 0.001). In contrast, the early explantation rate due to infection was only 16.6%. Hematoma was the most common post-explant complications, with a total complication rate of 13%. In the time, it was determined that explantations secondary to complications, early explantations and post-explant complications decreased, while TIVAP in situ time increased.

Conclusions: Infection is the reason of more than half of TIVAP explantations. Although infection significantly decreases the TIVAP survival, it rarely causes early explantation. It is important that TIVAP-related processes are performed in multidisciplinary centers and with experienced staff. Keywords : venous port, explantation, infection, chemotherapy, cancer