Pre-operative Interventional Paramedical Consultation: What About the Implantable Device?

The placement of implantable ports is carried out at CHUGA by several departments, including the Interventional Radiology Department.

The radiology team places between 350 and 370 implantable ports each year (figures for 2023: 361, 2024: 363).

It is a short procedure (less than an hour), carried out under local anaesthetic. Following this, the interventional radiologist makes two incisions: one at the base of the neck and the second beneath the collarbone on the same side. The olive-sized housing is positioned at the incision near the collarbone. The catheter is connected to the device and then enters the neck vein at the second incision after travelling under the skin. The two incisions are closed with a few stitches, still under local anaesthetic. After the procedure, the patient gets dressed and can go home with a prescription for nursing care. Due to a lack of available medical time, there is currently no pre-procedural consultation carried out by radiologists prior to this procedure. The information is therefore provided by the oncologist during the oncology consultation, alongside a wealth of other information regarding the oncological condition. When an appointment is made through the interventional radiology department's reception, a standardised written information sheet is sent to the patient along with the appointment letters. The MERM team in the interventional radiology department observed that information regarding the procedure's conduct almost invariably had to be repeated when the patient was admitted to the procedure suite. According to an internal department assessment conducted over one month, the investigators found that of 31 patients attending for the insertion of an implantable port, 11 patients (35.5%) were highly anxious, 9 patients (29%) had received no information at all regarding the procedure, and only 8 patients (25.8%) were not anxious and felt they had been properly informed. Furthermore, 4 patients (12.9%) did not undergo the procedure due to a major error in the management of anticoagulants, and 7 patients (22.5%) had not undergone the preoperative blood tests normally recommended.

During the pre-procedure consultation, which lasts approximately 30 minutes, you will be given full details of the examination process, from settling in the procedure room right through to the dressing. Pre- and post-operative instructions will also be provided, along with the relevant prescriptions (discontinuation of anticoagulants, Betadine shower, referral for a blood test to be carried out in the laboratory beforehand, dressings and a follow-up visit from a private nurse afterwards). The issue of transport to and from the hospital on the day of the procedure (arrangements, transport vouchers) will also be discussed. This time will be used to introduce the patient to the department and the healthcare staff who will be looking after them, using visual aids (photographs), as well as to show them a device identical to the one that will be implanted, if they wish.

Unlike the information currently provided on the day of the examination, this consultation will take place in a confidential and calm setting where the patient will also be able to ask any questions they may have.

Assessing patients' anxiety preoperatively is not easy, but the most widely validated scale is the State and Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) (1), which has been translated into French but comprises 20 items and is therefore cumbersome to administer.

The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is much easier to use in practice and began to be used in the context of anxiety in the 1970s (2) A prospective study (3) conducted at Poitiers University Hospital demonstrated a good correlation between the STAI scale and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) upon entering the operating theatre. A randomised study of 89 patients conducted at Limoges University Hospital showed that an information consultation held approximately 7 days before gastrointestinal surgery reduced patients' anxiety as assessed by the VAS-Anxiety (VAS-A) score (4).

The investigators therefore hypothesise that an information consultation conducted by a MERM would help to reduce anxiety in patients coming to our department for the placement of an implantable port in an oncological context