Percutaneous peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion by a nephrologist: a new, simple, and safe technique.

Background: Insertion of the peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter by a nephrologist has been encouraged by several studies. The ultimate goal is to provide safe, timely, and effective catheter insertion without an unduly long wait time or delay. The success of PD depends partly on the ease of catheter insertion. We developed a new technique for percutaneous PD catheter insertion by nephrologists. Our new technique, in addition to being easy, proved to be safe and to eliminate the need for the peel-away sheath.

Methods: Data were collected prospectively on all patients having a PD catheter inserted by a nephrologist using our new technique (40 catheters in 38 patients). All catheters were evaluated for infectious and mechanical complications.

Results: The mean duration of the procedure from skin sterilization to the end of insertion was 24 ± 3 minutes. No bowel perforation or serious hemorrhage was recorded. Poor initial drainage was recorded in 12.5% of the catheters (n = 5) during the 4 weeks after insertion. The incidence of early exit-site leakage was 2.5% (1 catheter). Episodes of exit-site infection occurred in 5.0% and 12.5% of catheters (within 1 month and by the end of study period respectively). Two episodes of peritonitis were reported by the end of the 12-month period. Catheter survival was 95.0% and 87.5% at 6 months and 12 months respectively.

Conclusions: Percutaneous bedside placement of PD catheters using our new technique is safe and carries less morbidity in terms of bowel perforation, catheter-related infection, and exit-site leak. In addition, our new technique appears to have a high success rate and to offer considerable savings in terms of operating time.