Has Anyone Experienced a Clogged Port During Cancer Treatment?

I had it happen several times. Once I started my second time for chemo, I had to have my port replaced. No problems since

I was having issues with blood draws from my port as well. The nurses added heparin the first time and again today after a port dye test. Nothing wrong with the port. Hopefully the nurses don’t have an issue tomorrow with 3rd chemo treatment. Maybe it’s just the nurses. Dye test showed my port was working perfectly.

It can happen often. Usually resolved easily either with Cathflo or as my team calls it port Olympics where they have you move around in different positions until they get blood.

Make sure they are using the longer needle, one inch? That helped my port issues in the beginning.

Port clogs can definitely be concerning, especially when you're worried about treatment delays. Many patients do experience this issue occasionally during their treatment journey, and the enzyme injection (often called a declotting procedure) is a standard and effective way to restore proper function. While some patients may experience this more than once, others find it's just an isolated incident - each person's experience can vary based on factors like port type, placement, and individual healing patterns.