• Elena Mariggiò, Anna Paola Iori, Alessandra Micozzi, Antonio Chistolini, Roberto Latagliata, Paola Berneschi, Massimo Giampaoletti, Ursula La Rocca, Antonella Bruzzese, Walter Barberi, Robin Foà, and Salvatore Giacomo Morano.
• Hematology, Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Benevento 6, 00161, Roma, RM, Italy. mariggio@bce.uniroma1.it.
• Support Care Cancer. 2020 Sep 1; 28 (9): 4193-4199.

BackgroundCentral venous catheters (CVC) are essential for the management of patients with hematologic malignancies, facilitating chemotherapy infusion, antibiotics, parenteral nutrition, blood products, and blood samples collection. In this population, peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) seem to be associated with lower complications, compared with conventional percutaneously inserted devices (CICC). Data on the PICC in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell recipients (allo-HSCT) are limited.MethodsWe have prospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of 100 polyurethanes or silicone PICC, inserted into 100 adult allo-HSCT recipients, at the Hematology of Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), between October 2012 and August 2017.ResultsThe median duration of PICC placement was 117 days. Overall, 68% of patients maintained the device for the entire transplant procedure and PICC were removed after day 100 from allo-HSCT; of these, 44% did not experienced any PICC-related complications. Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) occurred in 32% of patients (2.5/1000 PICC days), associated with thrombosis in 8 cases. CRBSI were observed in 42% of patients with polyurethane and 20% with silicone PICC (p = 0.02). Catheter-related thrombosis occurred in 9% of patients, never requiring anticipated PICC removal. Mechanical complications occurred in 15% of cases (1.2/1000 PICC days). On the whole, adverse events were manageable and did not affect transplant outcome. No deaths related to PICC-complications were observed.ConclusionsPICC are a safe and reliable long-term venous access in allo-HSCT recipients.

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