Malfunction of Totally Implantable Central Venous Ports

Malfunctions of totally implantable central venous ports (TICVPs) have become a problem, as the usage of TICVPs has increased enormously. This study evaluated factors related with catheter malfunctions of TICVPs. Between January 2010 and June 2012, 1,740 TICVPs in 1,740 patients (874 men and 866 women) with an average age of 57.7 ± 12.8 years (range: 15 - 91 years) were implanted by an interventional radiology team at our institute. Catheter malfunctions were retrospectively analyzed. In the prospective study, we randomly allocated 176 patients to two kinds of TICVPs in a 1:1 assignment ratio. The primary outcome was the malfunction of TICVPs. In the retrospective study, the 32 malfunctioning TICVPs were caused by fibrin sheath formations (n = 15), chamber thrombosis (n = 8), TICVP rotation (n = 5), catheter migration (n = 2), and blood clots within the catheters (n = 2). Multivariate analysis showed that being female was a significant factor for poor patency rates of TICVPs (hazard ratio: 5.06; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32 - 19.46, P = 0.018). In the prospective study, two chamber thromboses occurred in Celsite® (n = 1) and Humanport® (n = 1). The primary patency rates of both Celsite® and Humanport® were 98.9% at 6 months, respectively. Our data suggest that catheter malfunctions of TICVPs are more common in females than males. The incidence of TICVP malfunctions does not differ between the two devices (Celsite® vs. Humanport®).