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Central venous catheters (CVCs) have become an integral part of treating patients in and out of the hospital and essential for the management of cancer patients. In the United States, more than 5 million CVCs are inserted every year [1], including over 200,000 ports implanted into cancer patients. These devices allow the administration of alimentation, chemotherapy, blood products, and antimicrobial therapy and allow the withdrawal of blood samples from the central circulation. Eliminating frequent venipunctures clearly increases a patient’s level of comfort. Whether the use of CVCs translates into extending or improving the quality of life currently is being investigated in a number of different studies [2].

It was not until 1952 that Aubaniac [3–7] described cannulating the subclavian vein of a wounded soldier for the purpose of resuscitation. In the subsequent 50 years, a number of devices have been introduced for the …