The use of short-term central venous catheters for optimizing continuous infusion of coagulation factor concentrate in haemophilia patients undergoing major surgical procedures.

INTRODUCTION: Continuous infusion (CI) of clotting factors has facilitated surgical procedures and intensive replacement therapy in haemophilia patients. This procedure could, however, be further optimized by using a short-term central venous catheter (CVCs) instead of via peripheral venous access.

AIM: In this paper, we present our results on using a short-term CVC in haemophilia patients during major surgical operations.

METHODS: In total, 40 patients with haemophilia A or B (37 and 3, respectively), aged 21-81 years, underwent 67 surgeries with 65 CVCs. Patients requiring intensive treatment lasting over 5 days had the indications for CVC placement. The catheters were placed by experienced anaesthesiologists in the operating theatre under general anaesthesia and following activated partial thromboplastin time correction.

RESULTS: No interruption of CI was observed and only one catheter had to be removed prematurely due to a suspected infection. There were no signs found for prosthesis or wound infection, nor was there any thrombosis documented.

CONCLUSION: Our study produced encouraging results regarding the use of short-term CVCs in haemophilia patients. Even though our patient sample was small, the data corroborates short-term CVCs to be safe and convenient for factor concentrate delivery in CI during major surgical operations.