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Thanks everyone. I think I've pieced it together. The problem with giving iv contrast is that it needs to be delivered in a rapid bolus to provide a rapid concentration in the organs and therefore good pictures. A peripheral vein can expand to accomodate to that, but the narrow rigid tubing in a portacath cannot do that. So I gather that contrast given through a port is delivered more slowly than is preferred and then diluted by all the blood in the superior vena cava where the tubing exits. Also the pressure of delivering the thinckened substance of iv contrast (especially if given by a machine) may risk damaging/separating/tearing the tubing.
So for those of you who have had iv contrast given through your port, how did the pictures turn out?
Cheers to all, and many thanks
Vicki
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