Dosage of heparin for patency of the totally implanted central venous catheter in cancer patients.
Francisca Jane Gomes de Oliveira, Andrea Bezerra Rodrigues, Islane Costa Ramos and 1 others
PMID 32578754WHAT IT FOUND
In adults with implanted chemotherapy ports, heparin locks showed no clear advantage over saline locks for keeping the port open.
Heparin doses varied; 100 IU/ml in 3 to 5 ml and longer flush intervals were common without more blockage.
Key findings
01The included studies did not show a convincing reduction in catheter occlusion with heparin locks compared with saline locks.
02Seven of the 13 included studies used heparin at 100 IU/ml with volumes of 3 to 5 ml.
03Studies comparing longer port maintenance intervals did not report more occlusion than shorter intervals.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The review included only 13 primary studies, and the authors said studies on catheter patency are still scarce. The included studies used different heparin concentrations, volumes, flush intervals and catheter types, so the results cannot be combined into one tested protocol. Search was limited to English, Spanish or Portuguese publications, so relevant work in other languages may have been missed. The review did not report a meta-analysis or pooled estimate, and many included studies were cohort studies rather than randomized trials.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this review as proof that saline is always better than heparin or that a single heparin dose can be adopted for every port. The studies used different concentrations, volumes, intervals and devices, and the review did not test one protocol.