chemo question

dee said:

This did happen. Her doctor at the cancer clinic told us
this is what happened. He said this is the first time in
his career. He and his nursing staff were very nervous,
although they did try to act calm.

Hi Dee, there's two terms mentioned here "tissue'ing" and
extravasation.

I cannot find anything more about this term "tissue'ing" but
I can find lots about extravasation.

cancerhelp.org.ukdefault.aspOpen ↗
Possible problems with a drip Doctors often use central
lines for chemotherapy because drips can be temperamental.
They can stop and start when you move your arm. And the
speed of the drips is not as easy to regulate as it is with
a central line connected to a pump. But the most serious
potential problem with a drip is fluid leaking out into the
surrounding tissues instead of going into the vein. Nurses
usually call this 'tissue-ing'. Generally, this will cause
the area to become hard, slightly swollen and sometimes red.
Often these problems are very minor. The doctor or nurse
resites your drip and after a day or so the swollen area has
completely recovered.

But some chemotherapy drugs can cause more damage if they
leak. These are called vesicants. Your doctor and nurse will
be aware if the drug you are having is a vesicant. They may
ask you to keep a close eye on it and let them know as soon
as possible if the drip stops going, or if the area around
the needle (cannula) is getting sore. Our chemotherapy drug
pages say if a drug is a vesicant, so you can check for
yourself if you like. Doctors and nurses sometimes call drug
leakage 'extravasation'. This just means 'out of the vein'.

If you are treated with a vesicant drug that leaks, it can
cause pain and ulceration to the body tissues. This doesn't
necessarily happen straight away. There may not seem to be
much harm done. But the area can become more swollen and
painful over the next few days. Ulcers (sores) may develop
within 2 weeks. This type of damage can take quite a long
time to heal. " [end copied text from website)

I'll post (separately) what I have about 'extravasation'.
Also maybe it's time for you to tell us when this happened,
the name of the chemo(s), Whether anything was done
immediately by the doctors or nurses to help the situation
and what reaction occurred (ie how is the patient?) AND
some of the other questions you have (if they're not
answered on some of the web sites that I'll post). I'm not
a doctor nor a nurse, so I'm not sure that I'll be able to
answer any questions but there are others here reading who
might have input. J

dee said:

This did happen. Her doctor at the cancer clinic told us
this is what happened. He said this is the first time in
his career. He and his nursing staff were very nervous,
although they did try to act calm.

Hello Dee, hopefully something that I posted helped you. If
you do have questions, there are doctors reading this
newsgroup. J