Risk factors to port-a-cat damage/removal in patients in antineoplastic chemotherapy: a retrospective observational study

Objective: To identify the prevalence and risk factors for damage or removal of fully implanted long-term catheters from patients undergoing antineoplastic chemotherapy. Methods: This is an observational, cross-sectional study that evaluated medical records of patients undergoing placement of a fully implanted catheter for antineoplastic chemotherapy from January 2015 to December 2019. Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected that were associated with catheter survival using Log-Rank Mantel-Cox and Cox Regression tests (SPSS, p<0.05). Results: Of 58 devices evaluated, most patients were higher educated married females, younger than 60 years old. The most frequent side of catheter implantation was the right side, and the most prevalent implantation site was the internal jugular vein. Less than 1/3 of patients (29.3%) had port-a-cath loss due to complications with a five-year follow-up survival of 35.73±3.76 (95% CI = 28.35-43.11). Two patients (4.7%) needed removal due to device exposure, three (7.0%) due to obstruction, and 12 (27.9%) due to infection. Female patients (p=0.019) and patients with breast tumors (p=0.049) had a shorter mean survival time. The women showed port-a-cath survival 9.25 times (95% CI = 1.35-50.25) shorter in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion: port-a-cath catheter loss is around 30% and being female is a determining risk factor.