Radiological insertion of Tenckhoff catheters for peritoneal dialysis: a 1-year single-centre experience

BACKGROUND: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is an important home-based dialysis modality for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The initiation of PD requires timely and skilled insertion of a Tenckhoff catheter (TC). At most centres, TCs are inserted laparoscopically by surgeons under general anaesthetic. This requires access to increasingly scarce surgical, anaesthetic and hospital inpatient resources. Radiological insertion of TCs performed as a day procedure under local anaesthetic allows for easier access to the TC insertion with reduced resource requirements. We report our 1-year experience following the introduction of this technique to our PD programme. METHODS: This is a retrospective review of the outcomes for all patients who had TCs inserted radiologically (percutaneously with the assistance of ultrasound and fluoroscopy) over the 12-month period from December 2011 to December 2012. Relevant patient demographics collected included age, gender, body mass index (BMI), previous abdominal surgery and cause of ESKD. Extended details of the insertion procedure were also obtained including length of stay, early complications and time to first use of the catheter for PD. RESULTS: Thirty Argyle(™) Swan Neck TCs were inserted under radiological guidance during the study period. The mean age of patients was 56 (SD ± 14). The male-to-female ratio was 2:1. The mean BMI was 25.7 (SD ± 4.8). PD was the initial dialysis modality in 22 (73%) patients. Of the 30 patients, 14 (46.7%) had previously undergone extraperitoneal abdominal surgery. All catheters were inserted successfully as day cases except four patients (13.3%) who had catheters inserted during an inpatient hospital admission. Most catheters were not accessed for a minimum of 10 days to reduce the chance of exit site leakage, in two cases the catheters were used within 5 days without complication. There were no cases of peritonitis or exit site infection during the observation period. Catheter migration occurred in four patients (13.3%) but only one required surgical intervention. Minor pain issues were noted in six patients (20%) and bleeding around the exit site requiring suturing in two patients (6.7%). The introduction of this technique at our institution saw a 67% increase in the number of patients performing PD. CONCLUSIONS: Radiological insertion of TCs for PD provided improved access to catheter insertion in a timely manner with reduced resource requirements. Over the 12-month observation period we noted a high technical success rate with very few complications. Our study supports radiological insertion of TCs under local anaesthetic as a viable alternative to catheter insertion in theatre under general anaesthetic. The relative ease of radiological TC insertion has resulted in a significant increase in patient uptake of PD at our centre.