Dearr all, I have a patient who hass a PICC line last year, January 2015. This should I change in February. Can I replace the wire through the line for a new line? This procedure i have done a few times before, but they were not so long in the patient.
Sincerely Jan Krukkert
Radboud University Medical centre,
Nijmegen, Holland
Is there a clinical problem with this PICC? If not, then why does it need to be changed? There are no recommendations from any organization stating a maximum or optimal dwell time for allowing any CVAD, including a PICC. All VADs are changed when there is a clinical indication for changing them such as a complication. If you do decide this one needs to be changed, I would not recommend an exchange of any kind. Remember the only reason for removal is a clinical complications and putting a new catheter into the same site could easily be problematic. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861