What is a Portacath?
A Portacath (port) is an implanted device that gives long term access to your veins. This allows you to have intravenous medication and blood tests taken, without the need for repeated injections into your veins.
These devices are often used for cancer patients. Once implanted, they give an easily accessible site for different treatment activities including chemotherapy, blood tests, contrast CT scans and more.
Understanding your procedure
Before your procedure:
You may need a blood test in the days prior to assess your kidney function and how your blood clots.
On the day:
- You may be asked to fast prior to your procedure.
- You may be asked to either take or avoid certain medications.
- Please let us know if you:
- Are pregnant.
- Have any allergies.
- Suffer from any ongoing illnesses including diabetes.
- Are taking any medication including blood thinners such as Warfarin.
When you arrive:
- Check in with reception.
- You will be taken to your procedure room and our radiologist will explain your procedure and ask for your consent.
- You will be asked to change into a gown.
During your procedure:
- You will be asked to lie on your back on the examination table.
- You may be offered a sedative to make the procedure more comfortable for you, although you will remain awake.
- We will monitor your vital signs using special devices attached to your body and administer a local anaesthesia at the insertion site in your chest and in your neck.
- Portacaths are usually inserted within the chest wall.
- The radiologist will make a small incision in the chest to create a pocket under the skin for the port.
- The radiologist uses image guidance – usually an ultrasound scan – to gain access to the veins in your neck.
- We feed the catheter through the neck vein until it reaches the chest.
- The catheter is connected to the port and its accurate placement is checked using image-guidance, usually a fluoroscopy scan using x-ray images.
After your procedure:
- We will monitor your progress for several hours while you rest and recover from your procedure.
- You may experience some pain and swelling which can be controlled using regular painkillers.
- Please avoid any strenuous movement for up to two weeks, depending on how your recovery is progressing.
- Your Portacath can remain in place for several years. In these cases, we use saline to wash out the port and make sure it doesn’t become blocked.
- Removal is a simple procedure done under local anaesthetic.