Complication of a Hickman Catheter: Cutaneous Erosion of the Dacron Cuff

INDWELLING central venous silicone rubber catheters (Broviac and Hickman) have gained widespread acceptance in patients requiring parenteral nutritional support or repeated venous access for cancer chemotherapy. Complications following catheter placement have been rare and include bacteremia, fungemia, local infection, hematoma formation, and catheter malfunction including migration, breakage, and occlusion. 1,2 Virtually no reports of significant complications following catheter removal have been published. The following case report describes the spontaneous cutaneous erosion of a retained Dacron cuff nine months after Hickman catheter removal. Report of a Case A 24-year-old man was found to have an osteogenic sarcoma of the right humerus in February 1979. He was referred to a physician at Memorial Hospital in New York and received preoperative chemotherapy, limb-sparing surgical resection, and postoperative chemotherapy (T-10 protocol). 3 In April 1983 he developed a recurrence in the apex of his right lung, with thoracic outlet involvement. He returned to Memorial