Heparin versus Saline Solution for Locking of Totally Implantable Venous Access Port (TIVAP): Cohort Study of the First Kurdistan Series of TIVAP

Introduction: Totally implantable venous access port (TIVAP) is essential prerequisite for most of chemotherapy protocols. Flushing with 0.9% sodium chloride becomes an alternative to heparinized solution. As flushing and locking solutions are still controversial, this study was conducted to compare efficacy of heparinized solution versus normal saline solution for locking in ports TIVAP. Patients and Methods: Prospective Cohort study performed in teaching hospital Sulaymaniyah-University of Kurdistan, Iraq, including 384 TIVAP implanted in cancer and non-cancer patients. The study reports the TIVAP outcome in 2 groups of patients where 2 different solutions used for maintaining catheter’s patency by heparinized solution in group (A), versus normal saline for group (B). Results: In group A, the rate of complications was 8.2% (n = 16) while in group B complications rate was 7.9% (n = 15). Thrombosis in group A occurred in 1.03% of the cases and in group B was 1.57%. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the causes for unwanted removals of the TIVAP. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that heparin has no role in preventing the early or late complications of TIVAP and we do not recommend using it as a locking solution.