Medical professionals - my stepfather is having a nutrition IV that goes in his heart inserted, need info ..?

Question

I have never heard of this procedure, even with 17 years of caregiving in a hospice environment. My mom is scared to death. Can anyone tell me what this involves? Is it as risky as it sounds? Is this common practice?

To fill you in a bit.... he had prostate and bladder cancer. They did surgery and removed the tumor. Since the surgery he has not been able to tolerate any kind of oral nutricion (not even water). It's been a week. Now they are saying they HAVE to do this procedure. We NEED real info on this. I promised my mom I'd research it for her, but I don't even know where to begin. Any info would be greatly appriciated! Thanks so much.

Answer 1

it's done all the time, it is called total parenteral nutrition, TPN for short. An intravenous cathetar is placed in a large vessel, usually in the neck, sometimes in the shoulder or chest, and yes it goes near the heart, but NOT into the heart. The reason is so the blood is moving swiftly and can dilute the solution rapidly the closer to the heart the cathetar is. This is not an unusual therapy, I personally have cared for many many patients that have recieved TPN, and it always benefitted them, gave them strength to heal up, and all of them eventually began eating again. Don't freak out, tell your mom to relax, it really is a good way to go.

Answer 2

It's called a central line, and would not be inserted into his heart, but would be inserted into a major vessel next to his heart. It would be threaded there from a vein in his neck, shoulder or arm. He is likely being put on total parenteral nutrition, which is a way of giving people the nutrients they need through their blood, bypassing the stomach and intestines. Risks associated with this are mostly due to infection, because you are opening access to the inner body that bacteria don't usually have. This risk can be minimized by keeping the skin site sterile.

It is very important that people get adequate water and nutrition or they may die. They will also have a harder time healing from surgery without adequate nutrition. Another option is a surgical feeding tube into his intestines/stomach, but TPN (total parenteral nutrition) is a good bridge if you expect him to be able to eat on his own in the near future.

Answer 3

What he is having is called hyper all.. The nutrition is not going directly into his heart. He is having a large needle inserted into a larger vein so he can get more nutrition. I have had this procedure many times because i have a colon disease.
Having a larger vein and needle allows for more fluids and higher calorie and nutritional supplements. It doesn't hurt. There is nothing to be afraid of. The caregiver will be told how to clean and care for this catheter (needle). It helps so much and then he won't have to worry about getting stuck a bunch of times because the other veins are smaller and unable to accept thicker fluids.
Good luck guys. It looks much worse than it is. It just looks like it's going into the heart.It actually is in what is called the subclavian vein.

Answer 4

First of all, I am not a medical professional, but maybe I can ease your mind somewhat. My father just got out of the hospital after three long months. He was in ICU at Hershey medical Center for a month. He had alot of problems, the prostrate being one. They also gave him nutrition through an IV, but not in his heart. They usually insert a central venous catheter and it feeds the nutrition directly into a patients bloodstream. Normally, they dont leave these in for a long time as they are a source of infection. If they need this long term, they usually use a Silastic Broviac or a Hickman. I am not a medical professional, but we went through so much with my dad (still are, actually) and we took notes and asked 1,000,000 questions about every procedure. Luckily, all of my sisters and I worked in health care, ( I was a phlebotomist for many years and so I was a little more familiar with the various lines) They will wean your dad off the iv feed, but it takes time. Our dad had a tracheostomy, so it took a little longer. They had to do swallowing evaluations on him to see if he could swallow food,(cuz of the trach) and then had to make sure he could tolerate it. They started him on liquids, including jello and things like that, then they went on to pureed foods, then to semi-solids etc. I know how scary it is, but its is necessary to keep your dad alive if he cant take anything by mouth. It took my dad three weeks to finally pass the swallowing evaluation, and they removed the catheter, but then he still had to go slow to see what he could tolerate. He still cant tolerate certain foods yet. It takes some people awhile. Especially when their body hasnt had any real food in for such a long time. Like I said, they dont like to leave the lines in any longer than necessary. Please go to the site LifeSteps to read up on this, this is where we learned so much. Just in case there are no doctors aboard to answer your questions here. I also recommend asking lots of questions, most doctors are happy to explain things to you. If they seem reluctant, dont be put off, they HAVE to tell you . Dont be afraid to ask... I have run into docs who seem to think that the family doesnt have a need to know, but it is your legal right. But you need to gather as much info as possible because your dad will most likely go home still needing some care from you, his family. I wish you lots of luck and hopefully, someone will answer this question with more detail. Go to that site, you will find lots of good info.
EDIT!! Yay, I knew there would be some great answers for you! Dont panic, your dad is in good hands.