“Half-Way” Venous Catheters

“Half-way”, Secalon-Seldy®, soft venous catheters, 40 cm long, were inserted by basilic (n = 90) and cephalic (n = 31) veins at the fossa cubiti in 121 patients (71 men and 50 women) aged between 19 and 88 years whose heights varied from 152–197 cm. The inserted catheter lengths approximated 1/5 of the patient's height. Sixty-five per cent of 106 radiologically investigated catheter tips were located proximally in the axillary veins, and 34% distally in the subclavian veins. The duration of catheterization varied from 1 to 44 (mean 9±7) days (x ±1 s.d). Perfect function was recorded in 93 of 121 catheters. No serious, but some minor complications were registered such as temporary interruption of infusion flow with movements of the arm (n = 12), partial or total catheter occlusion (n = 16), leakage of the infusate at the insertion site (n = 1), and pain along the vein during infusion (n = 2). Five patients (4%) developed thrombophlebitis 2-.10 days after insertion. Pull out phlebographies at catheter withdrawal (4–35 days after insertion) were performed in 36 patients. Radiological thrombi were small and similar to those recorded in another 53 phlebographies of “long-way” brachial catheters of similar stiffness. Neither local infection nor episodes of sepsis were registered over a period of 1,081 catheter days. “Half-way” catheters proved able to take over all the functions of both peripheral and central venous catheters, lacking the frequent complications (phlebitis and infection) of the former, and the serious mechanical complications (pneumothorax, vein perforations, and injuries of the ductus thoracicus, nerves, arteries, and heart) of the latter.