Outcomes of Ultrasound-Guided Arm Ports: Early Experience from a Tertiary Oncology Center
Suraj Dilip Bhame, Suyash Kulkarni, Nitin Shetty, Kunal Gala, Kajari Bhattacharya, Sudeep Gupta, Geeta KulkarniAbstract
This article determines the safety and effectiveness of ultrasound-guided arm ports for chemotherapy infusion.
In this institutional review board-approved retrospective study, we assessed the technical success (defined as successful placement of an arm port) and chemotherapy completion rate (defined as at least one chemotherapy infusion through the port) of arm ports placed under ultrasound guidance in a cohort of 72 patients (53 female, mean age 50 ± 13 years). The safety was assessed by analyzing the frequency of complications during follow-up.
Technical success was 100%. During a median follow-up period of 8 months, no patients were lost to follow-up, and five patients died during treatment. Chemotherapy completion rate was achieved in 93% of patients who completed at least one cycle of chemotherapy. Note that 2.7% of patients did not complete the treatment due to port complications. The overall rate of minor complications was 6.9%, and that of major complications was 2.7%.
Our findings suggest that arm ports are safe and effective for chemotherapy administration, with a low incidence of complications.