Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Medical Cancer Patients with and Without Chemotherapy Infusion Through Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters

Background : Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) and cancer are well established risks for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized medical patients. Chemotherapy is also a risk factor for VTE and infusion through a PICC may increase this risk. Aims : Compare up to 30-day after PICC placement rates of VTE between non-surgical hospitalized cancer patients that did and did not receive chemotherapy through a PICC. Methods : The Hospital Medicine Safety consortium comprises 47 hospitals in the state of Michigan in the US. Prescribed sampling of patient charts were abstracted for catheter use, medical conditions, chemotherapy, route of chemotherapy administration and demographics. Cancer was defined as having active treatment within 6 months of admission. Rates of total VTE, upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and lower extremity DVT were compared with chi-square or Fisher\u27s exact test. Results : 2113 patients received and 905 did not receive chemotherapy through a PICC. Mean age was 64.2 (sd 14.2), 55.5% male, and 78.7% white and 15.6% black race. Rates of any VTE were 4.20% with and 3.93% without chemotherapy (p = 0.73) and there was no difference in upper extremity DVT, lower extremity DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE) (table). Conclusions : Chemotherapy infusion through PICC lines in our cohort of hospitalized medical cancer patients did not confer additional VTE risk. PICC lines may be an acceptable device for chemotherapy when cancer patients are hospitalized. (Table Presented)