What is a Central Line Catheter?
For your child’s stem cell transplant, they will need a special IV (catheter), called a central line, which will be inserted by a surgeon early on in the transplant process. This catheter is generally called a central venous catheter. The advantage of having a central line is that it eliminates most of the need to draw blood by a needle stick. We can use this central line to give chemotherapy and other medications, to give blood products, to give nutritional fluids, to draw blood and to infuse bone marrow, stem cells or cord blood. Remember, there may still be times when blood must be drawn from your child by a needle stick. The central venous catheter will be inserted in the operating room, or in the radiology department while your child is asleep. The catheter itself is a soft, flexible tube that is inserted into a large vein in the chest that leads to the heart. This tube extends to the outside of the chest where it exits and may divide into two or three separate tubes (lumens). The
