Totally implantable venous access systems are widely used, but large-scale studies evaluating these systems are lacking. In this study 1500 patients (719 male, 781 female) with an average age of 49 years (15-86 years) were fitted with subcutaneously implanted venous access systems, in most cases for long-term chemotherapy. All patients were observed until removal of the system, death, or the end of treatment. A retrospective analysis showed an average catheter life of 284 patient-days. A total of 1308 (87%) of the patients had no implant-related complications. Catheter infections occurred in 3.2% of the patients and catheter thromboses in 2.5%. Rarer complications, such as catheter malfunction, migration of the catheter, skin necrosis, catheter fracture, catheter disconnection, and pneumothorax, occurred in another 4.3% of the patients. The complications led to explantation of 178 access systems (11.9%). There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the low rate of infections and other complications in the group of patients with solid tumors (2% and 4%, respectively) and the rate in patients with hematologic diseases (6% and 8%, respectively). This study confirms the safety and convenience of using totally implantable venous access systems in patients on long-term chemotherapy.

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Totally implantable venous access systems are suitable for long-term chemotherapy and cause few complications.

Because of demographic changes and the increasing proportion of orthogeriatric patients, the German Trauma Society (DGU) established a certification process for geriatric fracture centres ( AltersTraumaZentrum DGU ® ). This article is a detailed illustration of the certification process and the related Registry. The main goal of the certification is to support orthogeriatric comanagement and to improve the quality of care for geriatric patients. The requirements of the Criteria Catalogue force participating centres to continuously survey and improve their standards and structures. As a result, the requirements should lead to a high quality of care. To prove that the certification leads to higher quality of care, the DGU started a Geriatric Fracture Registry (AltersTraumaRegister DGU ® ) in 2016, which is obligatory for all certified centres. Studies on comanaged care and the improvement of quality by certified geriatric fracture centres are planned. Further health-care research will also be possible with the collected data.

Es wird ein Austauschseminar mit deutschen und niederländischen Studierenden im Fach Geographie vorgestellt, bei dem sich die Studierenden gegenseitig besuchten und Unterricht im anderen Land beobachteten. Um den Einfl uss des Austauschseminars auf die Entwicklung von Konzepten der Politischen Bildung bei den Studierenden zu untersuchen, wurden vor und nach der Begegnung Befragungen durchgeführt.