Physicians ensure patient safety with Chemo Ports during the pandemic

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.

Speaking on the significance of chemo ports, Dr. Srinivas Juluri, Director – Surgical Oncology and Managing Director – Medicover Cancer Institute, Hyderabad says, “Chemo ports can offer cancer patients a superior technique of undergoing chemotherapy sessions. In addition, it is comparatively painless and less infection-prone when compared to other traditional IV access devices and catheters.”

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.

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.”