Chest port insertion is a minimally invasive procedure during which a device is placed underneath the skin of the chest wall that allows your oncology team easy access to veins during future outpatient encounters such as infusion of chemotherapy, IV fluids, and drawing blood for lab work.

This is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure that requires local anesthetic. A small incision is made on the chest wall just below the clavicle. The port reservoir is placed in a small pocket under the skin at the incision site. A small catheter is then introduced into a vein at the base of the neck. The end of the catheter outside of the vein is tunneled under the skin from the neck to the port reservoir. The incision is then closed with absorbable sutures under the skin.