Ipsilateral placement of IV Catheter in patients undergoing Breast Cancer Surgery found safe

The key findings of this study were as follow:

1. The average interval between breast cancer surgery and IV implantation was 1.5 years (range, 1 day to 17.8 years).

2. A problem occurred in 2 of 2743 IVs inserted in the arm contralateral to prior breast cancer surgery, resulting in an incidence of 7.3 per 10,000.

3. A problem occurred in 2 of 5153 IVs inserted in the arm ipsilateral prior to breast cancer surgery, at an incidence of 3.9 per 10,000.

4. The incidence of complications did not change substantially across groups (P =.91), and the 95% confidence interval for the risk difference (ipsilateral versus contralateral) was 23 to +8 problems per 10,000.

5. When only the first IV put during breast cancer surgery is evaluated, the complication rate is comparable.

In conclusion, this study suggests that it is not required to avoid IV insertion in the arm ipsilateral to breast cancer surgery.

Reference:

Naranjo, J., Portner, E. R., Jakub, J. W., Cheville, A. L., & Nuttall, G. A. (2021). Ipsilateral Intravenous Catheter Placement in Breast Cancer Surgery Patients. In Anesthesia & Analgesia (Vol. 133, Issue 3, pp. 707–712). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). https://doi.org/10.1213/ane.0000000000005597

Keywords: Breast Cancer, axillary node, catheter, lymphedema, recurrence, intravenous line, implant, oncology, anesthesia, analgesia,