The port system is one of the most frequently implanted long-term venous access devices, consisting of a reservoir compartment with a self-closing silicon septum and the port catheter. The most common indication for a port implantation is a planned chemotherapy in patients with malignant diseases. Less frequently, the implantation is performed for parenteral nutrition and volume therapy as well as in patients with very poor peripheral vein conditions, enabling administration of drugs and blood products as well as taking blood samples. The implantation is mostly performed by surgical exposure of the cephalic vein, less frequently by puncture of the subclavian vein with subsequent insertion of the catheter into the vein and in both cases with fixation of the reservoir onto the pectoralis major muscle. Being one of the most common surgical procedures, port implantation is frequently performed in many surgical disciplines, e.g. in general, visceral, thoracic and vascular surgery. The management of complicated implantations as well as intra- and postoperative, sometimes life-threatening complications has to be mastered in particular by vascular surgeons.