Central
Venous Access Catheters (CVAC) and Gastrostomy (Feeding) Tubes
People with certain
diseases or medical conditions sometimes require that tubes be
placed into the body so that they can receive medications or
nutrients directly into the blood stream or gastrointestinal
system, or so blood can be drawn. Once, surgery was required to
insert these tubes, but today these procedures can be done
without surgery by an interventional radiologist.
Central Venous Access
Catheters (CVAC)
A CVAC is a tube that is
inserted beneath your skin so there is a simple, pain-free way
for doctors or nurses to draw your blood or give you medication
or nutrients. When you have a CVAC, you are spared the irritation
and discomfort of repeated needlesticks. More than 3.4 million
CVACs are placed each year, and doctors increasingly recommend
their use. There are several types of CVACs, including tunneled
catheters (Hickman or Broviac), peripherally inserted central
catheters (also called PICC lines or long lines), dialysis
catheters, and implantable ports.
Doctors often recommend
CVACs for patients who regularly have:
- Chemotherapy
treatments
- Infusions of
antibiotics or other medications
- Nutritional
supplements
- Hemodialysis
Interventional
radiologists also open up blocked hemodialysis grafts, using
procedures such as angioplasty or thrombolytic
therapy
Gastrostomy
(Feeding) Tube
Doctors often recommend
placing a gastrostomy tube in the stomach for a variety of
conditions in which a patient is unable to take sufficient food
by mouth. In the procedure, the feeding tube is inserted through
a small nick in the skin and into the stomach under X-ray
guidance.
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