Chemo ports use during Chemotherapy can reduce patient visits to hospitals and minimise health risks
The pandemic put forth renewed attention on the health of patients. Physicians concerned about their cancer patients’ well-being amidst frequent hospitals visits for their therapy sessions may recommend chemo ports to patients to minimize hospital visits that could put their health at risk.
Cancer patients often go through intravenous treatment to receive chemotherapy, medications and blood transfusions. Unfortunately, this also translates into multiple needle pricks for the patient as sometimes the vein is not easily detected. The chemo port stays in place through the treatment duration and eliminates the need to find a suitable vein at each chemo session.
Speaking on the significance of chemo ports, Dr. Virender Singh Sheorain, Senior Consultant, Vascular & Endovascular Specialist, Medanta-The Medicity Hospital, Gurugram says, “For Cancer patients on chemotherapy, chemo ports especially power ports are a boon as they not only allow chemotherapy, sampling blood but also allow to perform CT scans. As the patients’ veins need to be accessed frequently, the use of ports can prevent repeated poking of the patient’s arm with needles and thus protect the smaller veins. Most oncologists and patients prefer these chemo ports as they offer a better long-term solution.”
COVID-19 pandemic proved a deterrent for patients seeking cancer treatment as hospital visits massively dipped due to safety concerns. Chemo ports require flushing and maintenance only once in four weeks as compared to other acute vascular access devices and that helps in avoid putting patient’s health at risk. These ports are multi-functional and can also be used for delivering fluids and transfusions, collecting blood samples for lab testing and injecting dye for PET and CT scans, offering much ease and comfort to the patient.
Committed to patient safety, BD-India through its initiative ‘PortShala’, a medical education program for healthcare professionals, now expands to create awareness on Chemo ports that may provide advantages to patients’ lifestyle and comfort, as well as the long-term health of the veins of hands and arms.
Pavan Mocherla, Managing Director-BD-India/South Asia said, “Patient safety is paramount during any kind of treatment. BD has designed an educational initiative PortShala to support continuous learning on the science of chemo ports and facilitate its deeper understanding among healthcare workers, cancer caregivers and patients. We believe such knowledge can greatly improve the treatment regime and quality of life for cancer patients.”
