Central venous access device-related sheaths: a predictor of infective and thrombotic incidence?

Central vascular access device (CVAD)-related sheaths, sometimes described as 'fibrin sheaths', may result in minor or significant sequelae, from persistent withdrawal occlusion (PWO) to infective sheaths associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The authors studied 179 patients who underwent isotope scans, where isotope was infused via the CVAD. Isotope was found to bind to the sheaths around the catheters of some patients.

Mechanistic studies on the photodegradation of 2,5-dialkyloxyl-substituted para-phenylenevinylene oligomers by singlet oxygen.

Time-dependent UV/visible absorption changes are observed on photolysis of aerated solutions of monodisperse, vinyl end-capped 2,5-diheptyloxyl substituted PV-oligomers (OPV, n = 1, 2, 3). In all cases, photolysis occurs in at least two distinct stages. Evidence for the intermediacy of singlet oxygen comes from pulse radiolysis and time-resolved luminescence studies, which confirm formation of the OPV triplet state and its quenching by molecular oxygen to produce singlet oxygen.