Question: How is Heparin used as part of chemotherapy for breast cancer?
At the beginning or end of your chemotherapy infusion, your nurse may get out a small vial of heparin, and inject it to flush your catheter line. Heparin is a blood thinner, or anticoagulant, used to prevent blood clots in your port catheter line.
Answer: Heparin Flushes Prevent Blood Clots
Chemotherapy infusions involve a lot of tiny tubes (catheters) through which drugs, saline, and blood may travel. If you have an under-the-skin port for chemo, you will have a catheter line attached to the port, which carries the infusion liquids to your heart, where the drugs mix with a tremendous volume of blood, and then flow throughout your body.
In addition to a post-chemo flush, heparin is used to treat blood clots in the legs and lungs. It is also used to prevent surgical blood clots, or during dialysis, or blood draws. Patients who are unable to move for a long period of time will need heparin to prevent deep vein thrombosis (blood clot that forms in a vain deep inside the leg or thigh). Heparin may be used in appropriate doses for all ages, from newborns to elderly patients.
Chemotherapy infusions involve a lot of tiny tubes (catheters) through which drugs, saline, and blood may travel. If you have an under-the-skin port for chemo, you will have a catheter line attached to the port, which carries the infusion liquids to your heart, where the drugs mix with a tremendous volume of blood, and then flow throughout your body.
Heparin is injected in your catheter line to prevent blood clots within the tube itself. A clogged catheter is bad because:
- it prevents a CBC blood draw, as well as your chemo infusion
- blood flow is blocked, and may cause pain or swelling in your face, neck, chest, or arm
- tube may break or leak, requiring a repair or replacement
Some Precautions to follow with Heparin
- Avoid this drug if you are allergic to heparin, beef, pork, or any of the ingredients in a heparin injection.
- Check with your doctor to be sure heparin will not negatively interact with any of your other medications.
- If your platelets (cells that help blood clot) are low, your doctor may recommend a saline flush instead.
- Stop smoking if you have regular heparin injections, because smoking may make heparin less effective.
In addition to a post-chemo flush, heparin is used to treat blood clots in the legs and lungs. It is also used to prevent surgical blood clots, or during dialysis, or blood draws. Patients who are unable to move for a long period of time will need heparin to prevent deep vein thrombosis (blood clot that forms in a vain deep inside the leg or thigh). Heparin may be used in appropriate doses for all ages, from newborns to elderly patients.
Source: National Institutes of Health. Medline Plus. Drugs and Supplements. Heparin Injection.
