New Technique For Declotting Central Venous Catheters (CVCs) by Recovery Room Nurse

Abstract

In the last two years 307 patients were treated for occluded CVCs in the recovery room of Special Procedures. Of the 307 patients, there were 191 patients with a single lumen catheter (62%), 24 patients with a double lumen catheter (8%), 10 patients with a triple lumen catheter (3%), 66 patients with a single chest port (21%), 5 patients with a double chest port (2%), and 1 patient with a dialysis chest port access system (0.3%). All patients received 2 mg/2 ml dose of rt-PA except the patient with the dialysis port system, who was treated with 3 mg/3 ml of rt-PA. The in catheter dwelling times of the rt-PA were 30 minutes (289 of 307; 94%) and 60 minutes (18 of 307; 4%). A unique technique utilizing the proper placement of the needle, 3-way stopcocks, and creation of negative pressure is described. Out of the 307 patients, 300 (97.7%) had restored patency with free flow of blood of their CVCs.