Totally implantable intravenous catheters in the management of sickle cell anemia.

Totally implantable catheters (TICs) have recently been employed for long-term central venous access in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). We have reviewed our experience with 10 TICs inserted in patients with SCD. These were compared to 33 TICs inserted in patients without SCD (controls). The primary diagnosis was malignancy in most of the controls. The SCD patients experienced a marked increase in total complications (70 vs. 24%), as well as in complications requiring catheter removal (50 vs. 3%). No variable explained these differences except the presence of SCD. The complications requiring catheter removal from SCD patients were infections, catheter thrombosis, and venous thrombosis. The increased risk of these complications must be considered before a catheter is inserted; however, the average useful life of these catheters exceeded 12 months. They remained useful in the care of patients with poor venous access and multiple complications of SCD.