Three nursing precautions for ovarian cancer patients undergoing intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Ovarian cancer is a tumor that is extremely harmful to women's physical and mental health. As part of the comprehensive treatment of ovarian cancer, intraperitoneal chemotherapy has been increasingly used in clinical practice. Strengthening the care of patients undergoing intraperitoneal chemotherapy can help avoid the occurrence of various adverse symptoms, relieve patients' pain, and improve the efficacy. It must not be ignored.

1. Disinfection and infection prevention: Ovarian cancer patients should take disinfection and infection prevention measures after surgery, monitor blood counts twice a week, and supplement the blood cell components that are severely reduced. At the same time, attention should be paid to ensuring the safety of patients, reducing going out, and controlling the number of visitors to reduce complications such as infection and bleeding.

2. Nursing of intraperitoneal chemotherapy catheters: Many patients have blocked chemotherapy tubes during chemotherapy, mostly due to obstruction of the catheter caused by exfoliated cells and fibrin crystals in the peritoneal cavity. This crystallization only appears on the outer end of the abdominal wall of the catheter. The naked eye can see the yellow-white crystals in the catheter, and the drug solution cannot be injected at all. At this time, you can gently press the tube wall, and the crystals will break into powder and then pop out of the catheter cavity in retrograde. You can also inject a small amount of normal saline first. When the crystals come into contact with water, they will dissolve and swell into soft emboli. These emboli can be expelled by retrograde squeezing and then the drug can be injected again. Some patients do not drip during intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and the drug solution is pushed into the catheter with a syringe to restore the smoothness. At this time, properly adjusting the patient's lying position can improve the condition.

3. Psychological care: Ovarian cancer patients have heavy mental burdens, many worries, low moods, and a mixture of desire to survive and pessimism. They do not understand chemotherapy regimens well and are both afraid and worried. Therefore, it is necessary to implement targeted psychological care based on the psychological characteristics of patients at different stages, and establish a harmonious and trusting doctor-patient and nurse-patient relationship. Patients and their families should be informed of the advantages and possible complications of intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and in particular, the nursing methods for abdominal wall catheterization should be explained so that the correct methods for dealing with discomfort such as granulation hyperplasia, redness and swelling at the opening of the abdominal wall tunnel can be mastered to reduce fear and anxiety.