Early and Late Complications Related to Central Venous Catheters in Hematological Malignancies: a Retrospective Analysis of 1102 Patients

Several severe complications may be associated with the use of central venous catheters (CVC). We retrospectively evaluated on a large cohort of patients the incidence of CVC-related early and late complications. From 7/99 to 12/2005, 1102 CVC have been implanted at our Institution in 881 patients with hematological malignancies (142,202 total day number of implanted CVC). Early mechanic complications were 79 (7.2% - 0.55/1,000 days/CVC). Thirty-nine episodes of early infective complications (<1 week from CVC implant) occurred (3.5% - 0.3/1000 days/CVC): furthermore, 187 episodes of CVC-related sepsis (17% - 1.3/1000 days/CVC) were recorded. There were 29 episodes (2.6%) of symptomatic CVC-related thrombotic complications, with a median interval from CVC implant of 60 days (range 7 – 395). The rate of CVC withdrawal due to CVC-related complications was 26%. The incidence of CVC-related complications in our series is in the range reported in the literature notwithstanding cytopenia often coexisting in hematological patients.