How is a Tunneled Catheter put in?
Your Tunneled Catheter will be put in by a Surgeon or Interventional Radiologist. Tunneled Catheters are typically put in using local anesthesia and relaxing or ‘twilight’ sedative medications. You will have a small needle put into a vein in your arm or hand and you will be given medicine to help you to relax. The doctor will inject a local anesthetic into your skin to numb a couple of small areas on your chest and neck. After this you may be aware of activity around you and may feel some pressure on your chest (or arm) during the procedure, but you should not feel any pain. You will have one or two small incisions (cuts in your skin). The first incision will be about 1-3 cm long on your upper chest and is where tunneled catheter is placed. There will be a smaller incision at the base of the neck, just above the collarbone, which is usually less than 1–2 cm (½–1 in) long. The catheter will be tunneled under the skin from the lower chest incision to the incision above. One end of the
