Portacath Placement

Portacath catheter, also known as a port is an appliance that is installed under the skin. It comprises of a septum where different drugs are injected and a catheter that enters the vein. This allows doctors to draw blood samples as often as it is necessary and makes it easier for different medical substances to be injected into the patient's body. With the portacath catheter the discomfort for the patient is reduced because of the fact that their skin is not punctured tens of times a day. The portacath chamber has a silicon cap on top of it. This cap allows hundreds of punctures and after each puncture it seals itself. By doing this it both prevents bacteria from coming in and allows many injections to be done without removing the first catheter.

For every specialist it would be a child's game to place the portacath properly. The doctor has to find the subclavian vein which is just below the clavicle bone. It is easily found by a trained specialist. The needle should slide on the lower part of the bone and that would ensure that the doctor would not miss the vein. What's more, the procedure is done under the supervision of a monitor that guides the doctor. The syringe has to fill with a little blood. This is a result of the blood pressure and indicates that the doctor hasn't missed the vein and has placed the catheter in the right place. Later, a small incision is made a little lower on the chest. The portacath chamber is installed under the skin. Then it is important to clear the whole system with heparin. This is a chemical substance that prevents clots from forming. Both incisions are put stitches in then and the whole procedure of the portacath placement is over.

When you want to have the catheter removed the surgery is even easier. All the surgeon has to do is reopen the two wounds, remove the catheter and the portacath chamber and put stitches in the wounds again. What's important is that you should not forget about the port and neglect it. If you do so it may get blocked by clots and it may cause major problems for you. So, visiting your doctor once a week would prevent you from having any problems.

The whole manipulation can be described as routine and there are very little risks concerning it.

Infections are really rare because the main purpose of this method is to avoid different infections by avoiding a lot of punctures to the skin. This appliance can stay under the patient's skin for quite a lot of time and it doesn't need changing but only cleaning with heparin.

Complications are not totally excluded but they appear extremely rarely. What's more, even when they appear they are not at all serious and are very easily treatable. The main purpose of this device is to keep the patient safer and away from infections and to reduce the discomfort for them.