Repair of damaged connectors of tunneled cuffed catheters with a two-piece adaptor for peritoneal dialysis.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Although catheter use exposes the patient to several complications, tunneled cuffed catheters are widely applied for temporary or long-term vascular access. The aim of the study was to establish the rate of tunneled dialysis catheter damage and report our experience with breakage repair. METHODS: All 363 cuffed tunneled hemodialysis catheters inserted into 309 patients from May 2000 to December 2008 were followed up. When connector damage was encountered, repair with a two-piece adaptor for peritoneal dialysis was attempted. RESULTS: Mechanical breakage occurred in 33 (9.1%) of catheters with an incidence of 0.36/1000 catheter-days. The most frequent was connector damage, found in 25 cases (67.6%). Catheter repair using a peritoneal dialysis Luer adaptor was performed with good early and long-term outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Tunneled catheter breakage is a relatively rare complication. Catheter repair using the adaptor for peritoneal dialysis is easy to perform, safe, and cost-effective.