Central lines can accommodate up to 3,500 ml per day and allow safe infusion of hypertonic solutions containing up to 25 percent glucose. 6 Central formulas are nutritionally complete. Lipids are needed to provide essential fatty acids to the patient and the fetus, and are especially important because of their role in fetal brain and lung development. The overriding advantage of TCPN over TPPN is that TCPN can provide complete nutrition for both the pregnant woman and her fetus for months at a time. Both TPPN and TCPN can be administered at home under the supervision of the patient's healthcare provider and a home care agency.
Home care offers the obvious advantages of keeping the family together and of decreasing costs.
Some patients devise infusion schedules that allow them to convert their infusion port to a heparin lock during the day, go to work, and reconnect their infusion at night. Most importantly, the patient feels well, maintains her health, and is able to provide a safe environment for her developing fetus. The more common complications include air embolism and malposition into smaller vessels, which causes a higher incidence of phlebitis or thrombosis. Major complications include pneumothorax, arterial puncture with potential for cardiac tamponade, and sepsis. 6 Sepsis is a very serious complication.