PICC Service (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter)
The ANT Foundation established the PICC service in 2012 available to its patients in the cities of Brescia, Brindisi, Ferrara, Florence, Lecce, Modena, Pesaro, Taranto and Verona.
Thanks to special training, teams of doctors and nurses from the Foundation perform the placement of the PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) directly at the house of the cancer patients. The PICC is a central venous catheter peripherally inserted at the height of the arm in the basilica or brachial vein under the guidance of an ultrasound and verified through a special electrocardiograph. At no charge for the patients and their families, the home PICC is used to facilitate drug, liquid and parenteral nutrition delivery in patients assisted by the ANT Foundation, where hospitalization with intravenous access would be recommended.
According to statistics from the ANT Foundation Data Collection Center, 824 installations for cancer patients assisted by ANT in 10 different provinces were placed at home completely free of charge from June 2012 to December 2015.
553 PICC were placed in Bologna where the service was activated with a staff of three doctors and a nurse who were specially trained for three months at the Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation at the St. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital. 271 facilities were installed in other cities: 28 in Brescia; 2 in Brindisi; 29 in Ferrara; 68 in Florence; 34 in Lecce; 4 in Modena; 70 in Pesaro; 19 in Taranto and 4 in Verona. 13 facilities were placed with non-cancer patients.
