Trerotola SO, Harris VJ, Johnson MS, Snidow JJ, McKusky M
Outcome of 242 consecutive right tunneled right internal jugular hemodialysis catheters placed by interventional radiologists
Am Soc Nephrol
J Am Soc Nephrol (abstract) (Sep) 7:1422 1996

In this institution as well as others, interventional radiologists are excelling at percutaneous placement of venous catheters for hemodialysis. As it turns out, catheter placement by radiologists may also be less expensive than placement by surgeons. The authors found that 242 consecutive catheters were placed with 100 % success. Mean catheter duration was 72 days. There were no instances of hemothorax, pneumothorax or catheter related venous thrombosis or stenosis. The rate of infection was also fairly low at 0.1 per 100 catheter days.

Comment: These are developing standards of practice that will be hard to match. Nephrologists are being warned of the new standards. However, in matters of cost effectiveness, I suspect that we'll fare well compared to the charges per procedure by interventional radiologists and surgeons of $2100 and $5000, respectively, in this study. (Jose Ganel, M.D., University of California Davis at Sacramento, CA)

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Am Soc Nephrol
Basic hemodialysis : Vascular Access: venous