Association between bevacizumab administration and delayed wound healing complications before and after central venous port placement in patients with colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Bevacizumab (BEV) is commonly used to treat unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer; however, it is associated with delayed wound healing. This study aimed to assess whether administration of BEV within 14 days after central venous (CV) port placement was associated with an increased incidence of delayed wound healing complications. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients with unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer who underwent CV port placement between January 2017 and January 2023. The primary outcome was the incidence of wound-healing complications within 90 days. The incidence of complications was examined in 29 patients who received BEV within 8 weeks prior to CV port placement. RESULTS: Data on 264 matched patient pairs, selected from 778 eligible patients, were included in the analysis. Wound healing complications occurred in 4/264 patients (1.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.4%-4.0%) in the BEV group and 3/264 patients (1.1%; 95% CI, 0.2%-3.4%) in the non-BEV group, a nonsignificant difference (P > .99). Additionally, no wound-healing events were observed among the 29 patients who received BEV before CV port placement; however, this finding should be interpreted with caution because of the limited sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of BEV before and after CV port placement does not significantly increase the risk of delayed wound healing complications. These findings suggest that the risk of delayed wound healing associated with peri-CV port administration of BEV appears to be low in this specific clinical setting; however, this should be interpreted with caution and does not constitute definitive proof of safety.