I was wondering if anyone else has had to deal with the problem of too much scar tissue on veins from IVs which have made the veins too fragile for IV chemotherapy?

Percy has been on chemo for a while, and we are on our third chemo protocol.  At his last two treatments, the doctors have recommended that we consider inserting a venous access port.  Because he has had so many IV treatments, Percy's veins are starting to become too scarred and too fragile.  I really, really do not want to put him through another surgery (it is inserted surgically into the jugular vein) and I'm worried about whether he could accidentally knock something like that out of place, but the current protocol seems to be helping, so I'm trying to decide between putting him through another invasive procedure versus stopping a treatment that seems to be helping (at our last xray, Percy's lung mets were not visible!).  Has anyone else had any experience with a venous access port?  If so, did you have any complications?

Alternatively, has anyone had IV chemo done thru veins such as those in the ear or tail?  I was told that those were possible, but not preferred, alternates if they could not use the leg veins.  Using those sites would usually require sedation.

Hi Pam,

Thanks a lot for your reply and for the information.  Percy is getting a combination of vinorelbine and carboplatin for hemangiosarcoma.  He gets vinorelbine in week 1, vinorelbine in week 2, carboplatin in week 3, then three weeks off.  Then we start over again.

You mentioned that one of the main challenges for the access port is maintaining sterility.  Would there be danger of infection still once the incision heals?  They said that the entire port would be under the skin.  So they would still have to puncture the skin to administer chemo, but would do it at the port rather than on his legs.  Would something like that be at risk of being dislodged if he scratched or rolled the wrong way?

If I decide not to get the port put in, they said that they may need to sedate Percy to give him IV at alternate sites.  Are there risks associated with being sedated too often or interactions between the chemo and sedation drugs?

Thanks!

AJ

Thanks Pam!