Objectives: Peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) is widely used, because the incidence of complications and bloodstream infection in patients receiving PICC was lower than that in patients receiving central venous catheter. We compared PICC between cancer patients and non-cancer patients. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 157 patients receiving PICC from May 2012 to September 2015. Patients were separated into cancer and non-cancer groups. Results: Cancer patients were 88 and non-cancer patients were 69. The most common causes of PICC were intravenous hyperalimentation (Cancer vs. non-cancer: 45 vs. 51) and difficult peripheral venous access (40 vs. 12) (p=0.0022). The duration of catheterization was 15 (6-39) vs. 21 (12-40) days (p<0.0001). The causes of catheter removal were death (50 vs. 14), remission (9 vs. 26), redness on insertion site or infection suspicion (10 vs. 11), and Some kind of catheter trouble (8 vs. 4) (p=0.0002). Complications occurred in 8 vs. 9 patients (p=0.429), and infection occurred in 0.9 vs. 2.0/1000 catheter days (p=0.041). Discussion: End-stage cancer patients have a weakened immune system. In this study, the incidences of PICC-related infection and other complications were not different between cancer and non-cancer patients, suggesting PICC was a safer method.

PURPOSE: In cardiac 2-[F-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) examination, interpretation of myocardial viability in the low uptake region (LUR) has been difficult without additional perfusion imaging. We evaluated distribution patterns of FDG at the border zone of the LUR in the cardiac FDG-PET and established a novel parameter for diagnosing myocardial viability and for discriminating the LUR of normal variants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cardiac FDG-PET was performed in patients with a myocardial ischemic event (n = 22) and in healthy volunteers (n = 22). Whether the myocardium was not a viable myocardium (not-VM) or an ischemic but viable myocardium (isch-VM) was defined by an echocardiogram under a low dose of dobutamine infusion as the gold standard. FDG images were displayed as gray scaled-bull's eye mappings. FDG-plot profiles for LUR (= true ischemic region in the patients or normal variant region in healthy subjects) were calculated. Maximal values of FDG change at the LUR border zone (a steepness index; S(max) scale/pixel) were compared among not-VM, isch-VM, and normal myocardium. RESULTS: S(max) was significantly higher for n-VM compared to those with isch-VM or normal myocardium (ANOVA). A cut-off value of 0.30 in Smax demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 83% specificity for diagnosing n-VM and isch-VM. S(max) less than 0.23 discriminated LUR in normal myocardium from the LUR in patients with both n-VM and isch-VM with a 94% sensitivity and a 93% specificity. CONCLUSION: S(max) of the LUR in cardiac FDG-PET is a simple and useful parameter to diagnose n-VM and isch-VM, as well as to discriminate thr LUR of normal variants.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18/*metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction/metabolism/pathology ; Myocardium/*metabolism/*pathology ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Young Adult