PDI
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Perit Dial Int 27(Supplement_2): 119-125 2007
© 2007 International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dell'Aquila, R.
Right arrow Articles by Ronco, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dell'Aquila, R.
Right arrow Articles by Ronco, C.

Part 4: Technical Advances in PD

RATIONAL CHOICE OF PERITONEAL DIALYSIS CATHETER

Roberto Dell'Aquila, Stefano Chiaramonte, Maria Pia Rodighiero, Emilia Spano', Pierluigi Di Loreto, Catalina Ocampo Kohn, Dinna Cruz, Natalia Polanco, Dingwei Kuang, Valentina Corradi, Massimo De Cal and Claudio Ronco

Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, St. Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy

Corresondence to: R. Dell'Aquila, Department of Nephrology, Dialysis, and Transplantation, St. Bortolo Hospital, 37 Rodolfi Avenue, Vicenza 36100 Italy.
roberto.dellaquila{at}ulssvicenza.it

The peritoneal catheter should be a permanent and safe access to the peritoneal cavity. Catheter-related problems are often the cause of permanent transfer to hemodialysis (HD) in up to 20% of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients; in some cases, these problems require a temporary period on HD. Advances in connectology have reduced the incidence of peritonitis, and so catheter-related complications during PD have become a major concern.

In the last few years, novel techniques have emerged in the field of PD: new dialysis solutions, better connectology, and cyclers for automated PD. However, extracorporeal dialysis has continued to improve in terms of methods and patient survival, but PD has failed to do so. The main reason is that peritoneal access has remained problematical.

The peritoneal catheter is the major obstacle to wide-spread use of PD. Overcoming catheter-related problems means giving a real chance to development of the peritoneal technique. Catheters should be as efficient, safe, and acceptable as possible.

Since its introduction in the mid-1960s, the Tenckhoff catheter has not become obsolete: dozens of new models have been proposed, but none has significantly reduced the pre-dominance of the first catheter. No convincing prospective data demonstrate the superiority of any peritoneal catheter, and so it seems that factors other than choice of catheter are what affect survival and complication rates. Efforts to improve peritoneal catheter survival and complication rates should probably focus on factors other than the choice of catheter. The present article provides an overview of the characteristics of the best-known peritoneal catheters.

KEY WORDS: KEY WORDS:; Peritoneal catheter; survival; peritonitis; continuous flow peritoneal dialysis; dislocation; exit-site infection; complications; catheter removal.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Multimed Inc. logo
Copyright © 2007 by Multimed Inc.