Never heard of it and it would not be possible to do it, I don't think. The catheter and port body are specifically made to fit together. The tunneled catheter is not designed to fit onto the stem of the port body, leaving it extremely vulnerable to separating. This would mean that the catheter would come off the stem and embolize. I suppose you could make a surgical incision near the original venotomy of the tunneled catheter and them somehow do an exchange over wire to withdraw the tunneled catheter and place the port catheter. But this may be more risk than just starting with a new catheter insertion. You would need to obtain the instructions from the manufacturer of both devices and follow them. If they do not support this procedure (and I don't think they would), then the facility and operator inserting the device would be at risk for a lawsuit if there was a catheter embolization, or extravasation injury. Lynn
Never heard of it and it would not be possible to do it, I don't think. The catheter and port body are specifically made to fit together. The tunneled catheter is not designed to fit onto the stem of the port body, leaving it extremely vulnerable to separating. This would mean that the catheter would come off the stem and embolize. I suppose you could make a surgical incision near the original venotomy of the tunneled catheter and them somehow do an exchange over wire to withdraw the tunneled catheter and place the port catheter. But this may be more risk than just starting with a new catheter insertion. You would need to obtain the instructions from the manufacturer of both devices and follow them. If they do not support this procedure (and I don't think they would), then the facility and operator inserting the device would be at risk for a lawsuit if there was a catheter embolization, or extravasation injury. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861