Aligned with its commitment to patient safety, BD (Becton, Dickinson, and Company), launched a microsite https://www.bdportshala.com  for healthcare professionals and patients on World Cancer Day. It is also the second anniversary of BD India’s Portshala initiative.

Portshala is a medical education program for healthcare professionals that was conceptualized to create awareness on Chemoports and the lifestyle benefits that they offer to patients. These include painless delivery of chemotherapy drugs through a single port without requiring need for multiple access points thereby eliminating the need to find a suitable vein at each chemo session.

Atul Grover, Managing Director-BD-India/South Asia said, “Our educational outreach program Portshala is specifically built to generate awareness around cancer and the benefits of using advanced vascular access devices during cancer treatment. On the occasion of World Cancer Day, we are pleased to announce the launch of our Portshala microsite for healthcare professionals and patients. The microsite encloses information on advanced vascular access devices like chemoports and how they can enhance the quality of life for patients. At BD, patient care and safety continue to be the bedrock of what we do, and such initiatives that enable improved treatment solutions to reiterate our commitment to Advancing the world of health.”

Chemotherapy is one of the common treatment lines for cancer that is aimed at killing cancer cells, preventing it from spreading, and slowing the growth rate.  For the intravenous chemo drug delivery process, the drugs need to be given through a Vascular Access Device (VAD) such as IV cannula, PICC line, or a chemoport. A chemoport is an advanced VAD that is surgically placed under the skin for easy and repeated access.

Highlighting the benefits of Chemoports, Dr. Sandeep Nayak, Senior Director- Surgical Oncology, Robotic & Laparoscopic Surgery, Fortis Cancer Institute, and MACS Clinic, Bangalore says, “Cancer patients often go through intravenous treatment to receive chemotherapy, medications, and blood transfusions. Unfortunately, this also results in multiple needle pricks for the patient as most of the time the vein is not easily detected. The process becomes very painful for the patient. The benefit of the chemoport is that it stays in place through the treatment duration. The maintenance of the port is also very simple and the patient does have to do anything about it.”

Oncologists all over the world are recognizing the advantages of using Chemoports rather than traditional cannulas. The ports can stay in place as long as the physician recommends. So, unlike cannulas, one doesn’t need to replace it frequently and thus has lesser visits to the hospital. A study indicates that 92% of the patients had an improved quality of life with chemo ports.

Patients and physicians can seek mutual benefit from chemoports as they are multi-functional and can also be used for delivering fluids and transfusions, collecting blood samples for lab testing, and injecting dye for PET and CT scans.