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A tunnelled line is a soft tube that runs under the skin of the chest for a few centimetres before entering a large vein in the neck or under the collarbone, with its end outside the body. A small cuff under the skin anchors it and helps keep germs out, so it can stay in for months of chemotherapy, blood tests and transfusions.
The CDC/HICPAC catheter guideline (2011, last updated 2017) lists tunnelled central venous catheters as implanted into the subclavian, internal jugular or femoral veins, at least 8 cm long depending on patient size, and notes that the "cuff inhibits migration of organisms into catheter tract", with a lower rate of infection than non-tunnelled central lines. Unlike an implanted port the external end stays outside the skin, so it needs regular dressing changes and flushing but no needle through the skin for each use.
In adults with cancer, the MAGIC-ONC panel (2025, RAND/UCLA appropriateness method) rated a double-lumen PICC or a tunnelled central venous catheter as appropriate for acute haematological cancers needing urgent chemotherapy, regardless of treatment intensity or infusate, and a single-lumen tunnelled catheter or implanted port as appropriate for chemotherapy in solid tumours. The infections these lines can carry are counted as central line-associated bloodstream infections, and the prevention bundles in the SHEA 2022 update apply to them.
A catheter passed through a tunnel under the skin before it enters a large central vein (subclavian, internal jugular or femoral), with its external end outside the skin; a cuff in the tunnel anchors it and inhibits migration of organisms along the catheter tract.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Tunnelled cuffed central venous catheters" OR ABSTRACT:"Tunnelled cuffed central venous catheters" OR TITLE:"Hickman-type lines" OR ABSTRACT:"Hickman-type lines" OR TITLE:"Hickman line" OR ABSTRACT:"Hickman line" OR TITLE:"Hickman catheter" OR ABSTRACT:"Hickman catheter") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Tunnelled cuffed central venous catheters (Hickman-type lines), not a curated reading list.
Shares Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Implanted ports for chemotherapy (port-a-cath, power-injectable, apheresis and intraperitoneal ports), Infusion pumps, ports, and ambulatory chemotherapy devices, Central venous access (port, PICC line) and the tag supportive-care-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Acute myeloid leukaemia and the tag supportive-care-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Acute myeloid leukaemia and the tag supportive-care-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Implanted ports for chemotherapy (port-a-cath, power-injectable, apheresis and intraperitoneal ports), Infusion pumps, ports, and ambulatory chemotherapy devices, Central venous access (port, PICC line) and the tag supportive-care-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Implanted ports for chemotherapy (port-a-cath, power-injectable, apheresis and intraperitoneal ports), Central venous access (port, PICC line) and the tag supportive-care-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Disinfecting caps for needleless connectors (Curos), Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Infusion pumps, ports, and ambulatory chemotherapy devices, Central venous access (port, PICC line).
Shares Disinfecting caps for needleless connectors (Curos), Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Central venous access (port, PICC line).
Shares Disinfecting caps for needleless connectors (Curos), Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC lines), Implanted ports for chemotherapy (port-a-cath, power-injectable, apheresis and intraperitoneal ports), Central venous access (port, PICC line).
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