Having a problem with a short pipe read

I'm using the DBI module and along with a pipe read
(ie, my $line = <$handle> )

I populate a database table with the parsed results of $line.

the problem I'm having is that I'm getting some (not all) short reads
on the handle, meaning that's it's returning but not all the data is
there and there was no '\n' in the data that should have returned it.
A subsequent read ($line = <$handle> ) will get the remaining data.

I picked up this code from a former co-worker and he made mention in
the script of there being a problem with DBI and the pipe which he
tried to fis with undefinig and resetting $SIG{PIPE} around the open
call that set up the pipe, but that doesn't seem to do the trick.

Has anyone else seen this behavior before and know of any fixes?

Thanks,
Brian