Interventional Radiologists at pvt hosp dislodge Catheter stuck inside heart
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CHENNAI: In a two-hour minimally-invasive procedure, the Interventional Radiology team at Rela Hospital successfully removed a dislodgedchemoport catheter tubethat was stuck inside the heart of a 39-year-old male, a cancer patient.
The tube, measuring 12 cm in length, was part of a medical device known as chemo port, which is used to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to the bloodstream.
Instead of floating, the tube was firmly attached at both ends within the heart wall -- with one end positioned within the right atrium and the other in the main pulmonary artery, as the tube passed through the ventricle, making its removal a big challenge.
The interventional radiology team, headed by Dr. T. Deepashree, Senior Consultant, Interventional Radiology and Imaging Services, recently performed a minimally invasive procedure catheter-based one, averting the need for major conventional surgery. Post-intervention, the patient is doing well.
A chemo port, also known as a port-a-cath, is a type of central venous access device that is used to draw blood and give treatments, including intravenous fluids, blood transfusions, or drugs such as chemotherapy and antibiotics.
It consists of two main parts: a port and a tube.
While the port, a small reservoir, sits just under the skin in the chest area, the tube from it is inserted into a large vein.
Through this arrangement, a drug first reaches the port from where it travels through the tube to reach the bloodstream directly.
The device, which can work for several weeks or months, eliminates the need for repeated vein punctures.
In another case, the chemo port was fixed in 2019.
As it has become defunct now, due to tube dislodgement, it may have to be removed and a new one will have to be implanted, if the patient requires chemotherapy to treat his illness: pleomorphic sarcoma, a type of cancer that originated in his left thigh, and swiftly spreaded to the lungs.
