Hickman Catheter (Central Line)

Prior to conditioning chemotherapy, a small flexible tube called a catheter (sometimes called a "Hickman" or central venous line) will be inserted into a large vein in the patient's chest just above the heart.  This tube enables the medical staff to administer drugs and blood products to the patient painlessly, and to withdraw the hundreds of blood samples required during the course of treatment without inserting needles into the patient's arms or hands. 

In this photo, the day after the Hickman was placed, the nurse is swabbing the area with betadine to cleanse it.  The Hickman itself is the white tubing that you see in the photo.  The betadine was only used because the catheter is so new, and does not have to be used every day, although the line does have to be cleansed, and the dressing changed every 24 hours.  The Hickman will remain with Greg for at least six months, if not longer. 

Here's a photo of Greg's line.  Greg has two "ports" or "lumens" on his line.  Blood can be drawn from either of these ports, as well as infusing medications into either of these.  The central line requires daily care, and flushing before each medication.  This is something we are still learning about, but we are told we will become experts at caring for the hickman in a very short period of time.  You can read about the insertion of the hickman in Greg's blog entry from 4/6/00.