Letter

Open technique has lower evidence of complications

BMJ 1995; 311 doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7012.1090a (Published 21 October 1995)
Cite this as: BMJ 1995;311:1090.2

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  1. M D Richards,
  2. J Hill,
  3. N A Scott,
  4. J Bancewicz,
  5. Miles Irving
  1. Tutor in surgery Senior registrar in surgery Consultant general surgeon Reader in surgery Professor of surgery Department of Surgery, Hope Hospital, Salford M6 8HD

    EDITOR,--We disagree with Andy Adam's comments regarding the drawbacks of an open surgical technique for placing long term central venous catheters. It is our practice to place such catheters by using an open cutdown technique under local anaesthesia. We mainly use the cephalic vein, with fluoroscopic screening to ensure correct positioning. With this technique more than 800 catheters have been inserted over the past 10 years, for parenteral nutrition, antibiotics, and chemotherapy. The incidence …

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