What to Expect at an Infusion Center

Infusion-center days often involve more than just the infusion itself. Expect labs, sometimes a provider visit, access through a port or an IV line, premedicines, a wait while your drugs are prepared, monitoring during the infusion, and instructions to take home.

This page is educational. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.

Knowing the flow of the day ahead of time makes it far less disorienting. It also helps you pack the right things and ask the right safety questions before you are already mid-visit.

Most chemotherapy is given intravenously. That means a thin needle placed in a vein in your hand or arm. Some people instead use equipment placed for longer-term use: a catheter, a port under your skin, or a pump that controls the delivery rate. Some chemotherapy comes as a pill instead. Some cancers need less common routes, like an injection or a spinal infusion.

Chemotherapy is typically given in cycles. That means a period of treatment, followed by a rest period. A common pattern is treatment for a stretch of days, then a few weeks off. This gives your body a chance to recover and rebuild healthy cells before the next round. Ask how many cycles are planned for you. Ask roughly how long the whole course will take.

Many centers check your blood counts before each infusion. Your labs that day can affect whether treatment goes ahead as planned, or needs an adjustment. You may also see a provider briefly, to review how you have felt since your last visit. If you have a port, a nurse accesses it with a needle. If not, they place an IV. Premedicines, often for nausea or allergic reactions, frequently go in first. Then comes the wait while the pharmacy prepares your exact dose. This can take a while, even after you have already checked in.

Pack a full medicine list, a snack, water, a phone charger, and a sweater, since infusion rooms are often kept cool. Bring your written question list too. Ask ahead of time whether you will need a driver, since some premedicines cause drowsiness even if the chemotherapy itself does not.

Ask whether you need labs before each infusion. Ask how that could change your plan for the day. Ask how long your first visit is likely to take. First visits often run longer than later ones. Ask what symptoms to report before you leave the center. Separately, ask what to watch for once you are home.

During or shortly after infusion, tell staff right away about breathing trouble, chest tightness, swelling, a new rash, dizziness, fever, or severe chills. Trust any sudden sense that something is wrong too. Chemotherapy affects fast-growing healthy cells as well as cancer cells. That is part of why side effects like mouth sores, nausea, and fatigue are common. Still, report anything severe or unexpected. Do not assume it is simply part of treatment.

Many people bring something to fill the time: a book, a laptop, headphones, or simply a friend to talk with. Infusion rooms usually allow visitors, though some limit the number at once, so it is worth asking ahead if you plan to bring more than one person. Some centers offer reclining chairs or small private bays rather than a shared open room; if privacy matters to you, ask what the layout looks like before your first visit.

• How does my infusion visit fit with my diagnosis, my treatment, and my current symptoms?
• After my infusion visit, what should I do now, what can wait, and what should make me call sooner?
• Is there a written plan, handout, or referral that would make this easier to follow?
• Who do I contact after hours about my infusion visit, and what should I have ready?

Once you are home, the nurses are no longer watching you. Use this plan instead.

• Call 911 or go to an emergency department if your throat, lips or face swell, your chest tightens, or you cannot catch your breath in the hours after an infusion.
• Call your care team now, day or night, if you record a temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, or get shaking chills. A fever during chemotherapy is a medical emergency, because your infection-fighting cells may be low. Do not wait for morning and do not take a fever medicine first. If the line does not get you a person quickly, go straight to an emergency department and tell staff you are on chemotherapy.
• Call your care team the same day if the skin over your port or IV site turns red, sore or puffy.
• Call your care team within a day or two if mouth sores or sickness are keeping you from eating and drinking normally, despite the medicines you were sent home with.

Infusion planning connects to chemo-day food and hydration, port care, side-effect tracking, caregiver rides, and your after-hours contact plan. Related pages: What to Expect at a Chemo Teaching Visit, What to Expect During a Blood Transfusion.

• National Cancer Institute — Chemotherapy to Treat Cancer.
• National Cancer Institute — Infection and Neutropenia During Cancer Treatment.
• CDC — Fever During Chemotherapy.