Staph Infections

Heroin
1
Anyone ever heard of having a "port that goes into the heart" put in for a staph infection? Can anyone explain?
2
Uhhhh CPVON.......I may be wrong here, but I was in rehab with a chick who had endeocardritis......I am sure I'm spelling it wrong, and she had a port.

Now I don't know if that port went right into her heart.......I am sure someone with more knowledge will know......I hope you are O.K.

Man, CPVON I am sorry you have to worry about all this.....hope you get the right information, and I pray it ain't your girl.......hope your mom, and grandaughter are O.K.........life it just stinks I tell ya sometimes.
3
It is basically an IV that does actally empty directly into the heart. They usually do it because there is no other IV access or to administer large doses of medications that need to be delivered too fast for another site. Why does the person have one? CAS.
4
I believe what you are referring to is a PA catheter. That stands for Pulmonary Artery. An introducer is inserted, usually into the subclavian vein which is underneath each of your clavicles on either side of your neck. The large port IV is feed through this introducer. This IV has several ports. One empties out of the right side of the heart, one is sitting just in the entrance out of the right ventricle in the pulmonary artery. You also have ports that give core temperature readings, and you can even insert a temporary pacemaker into this thing. It is a fairly common procedure that people get when they are hemodynamically unstable. The biggest risk to this procedure is puncturing the lung when trying to find the subclavian vein. A chest x ray is always done to verify placement and no complications. It tells the doctor how about internal cardiac pressures, it aids in knowing core temperature changes, pacing a patient, administering a lot of drugs that could be too dangerous to give in a small peripheral iv, and measuring oxygen. It is a great device to use for really sick patients. It is easily removed as well. Hope that helps.

Lois
5
Wow. I never knew any of that stuff.

Thanks for all that information........amazing stuff.

Hope Julie is hanging in there.