Harefuah
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In the past 20 years Hickman catheters have gained increasing acceptance for many uses, including bone marrow transplantation, long-term chemotherapy, total parenteral nutrition, dialysis, and administration of antibiotics and fluids. Until the past decade these catheters were inserted in the operating room. We present our experience in the percutaneous placement of 203 Hickman catheters in an interventional radiology suite in 190 consecutive patients within a period of 30 months. ⋯ In another patient the guide wire broke during insertion and had to be percutaneously removed from the pulmonary artery. Late fracture of the catheter occurred in 2 others in whom the intravascular fragment was removed percutaneously. We believe that percutaneous Hickman catheter placement in the radiology suite offers advantages over traditional surgical placement.