Use of an indwelling peripheral catheter for 3-5 day chemotherapy administration in the outpatient setting

Registered nurses (RNs) and clinical pharmacists in the Hematology-Oncology Clinic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center conducted a descriptive study to determine the effectiveness and safety of using indwelling peripheral intravenous catheters (pics) for daily administration of various chemotherapeutic agents given intermittently over a 3-5 day period to outpatients. Eighty-nine adult outpatients requiring daily doses of chemotherapy including Fluorouracil (5-FU) (Solopak, Elk Grove Village, IL), Leucovorin (Immunex, Seattle, WA), Cisplatin (CDDP) (Bristol-Meyers, Princeton, NJ), Etoposide (VP-16), (Gensia, Irving, CA), Topotecan (SmithKline Beecham, Philadelphia, PA), or Taxol (Mead Johnson, Princeton, NJ), plus antiemetics were studied. Vialon 20-, 22-, or 24-gauge indwelling PICs (Becton Dickinson, Sandy, UT), were placed. Approximately 80% of patients successfully completed treatment with the original PIC in place. Daily flushing of the PIC with 2 ml [corrected] of Heplock U100 (Elkins-Sinn, Cherry Hill, NJ), maintained Heplock patency.