BMC Cancer 2006, 6:103 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/6/103 Discussion Catheter occlusion is a common complication of long- term CVP placement. Therapeutic fibrinolytic agents like r-UK or r-tPA are used successfully to restore function of occluded CVP [1,2] Generally one or two instillationsof r- UK are required in the majority of patients. A 98.1% pat- ency rate is reported when treating catheter occlusions in paediatric patients with r-UK at a concentration of 5,000 IU/mL [4] However, after repeated applications of plas- minogen activators, a clot may become deprived of plas- minogen. This will result in the failure of further attempts. Conclusion The method we have described in this paper is useful in such situations. We were able to avoid catheter replace- ment in all five patients with thrombotic catheter occlu- sions that were treated with r-UK and autologous plasma. This is especially important for children. Competing interests The author(s) declare that they have no competing inter- ests. Authors' contributions Georg Seifert was involved in acquisition of data, drafted the manuscript and has given final approval of the version to be published. Hanno Riess was involved in acquisition of data and made substantial contributions to conception and design and has given final approval of the version to be pub- lished. Karl Seeger was involved in acquisition of data and criti- cally revised the manuscript and has given final approval of the version to be published. Günter Henze critically revised the manuscript and has given final approval of the version to be published. Anja Borgmann was involved in acquisition of data and has given final approval of the version to be published. Acknowledgements None References 1. Glynn MF, Langer B, Jeejeebhoy KN: Therapy for thrombotic occlusion of long-term intravenous alimentation catheters. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 1980, 4:387-390. 2. Hurtubise MR, Bottino JC, Lawson M, McCredie KB: Restoring pat- ency of occluded central venous catheters. Arch Surg 1980, 115:212-213. 3. Collen D, Lijnen HR: Thrombolytic agents. Thromb Haemost 2005, 93:627-630. 4. Wachs T: Urokinase administration in pediatric patients with occluded central venous catheters. J Intraven Nurs 1990, 13:100-102. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/6/103/pre pub Publish with Bio Med Central and every scientist can read your work free of charge "BioMed Central will be the most significant development for disseminating the results of biomedical research in our lifetime." Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK Your research papers will be: available free of charge to the entire biomedical community peer reviewed and published immediately upon acceptance cited in PubMed and archived on PubMed Central yours — you keep the copyright Submit your manuscript here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/publishing_adv.asp BioMedcentral Page 3 of 3 (page number not for citation purposes)