Nursing action on the extravasation of chemotherapeutic agents: literature review

Abstract

The chemotherapeutic agents’ administration by intravenous route consists of the systemic treatment method chosen for most malignant neoplasms, combined or not with other therapeutic agents. One of its main complications is the extravasation of anti-neoplastic agents to tissues adjacent to the cannulated vessel, which may cause from swelling and patient discomfort to severe injury and necrosis, constituting a real oncology emergency in the most severe cases. Goal: Review the literature to prepare a master's degree project, which may base the professional practice and check the nurse and the team's action given an extravasation. Method: Descriptive, document study. A search was performed on the bases: Scielo and Medline with the keywords "diagnostic and therapeutic material extravasation"; "chemotherapy"; "nursing care", "antineoplastic agents and extravasation", "nursing". From the data from the first search, a master's degree research project was preparing, contemplating the preparation of a prevention protocol, identification, handling and follow-up of extravasation cases. Results: The search resulted in 10 articles, which discuss this topic in 16 years (from 2001 to 2016) and observe the need of deeper studies on this subject. Conclusion: The nursing team is responsible for searching for strategies and implementing measures to ensure to the patient a risk-free assistance and, when this side effect occurs, it promotes proper service to mitigate the damage generated.