Tuneled catheters in femoral vein: does the length makes any difference?

Abstract

Objective: To establish if 23 cm length, tunneled catheters, are associated to better outcomes than 19 cm ones. Patients, Materials and Methods: Patients with CKD G5D, which the only vascular access alternative was the femoral vein. In these patients, the performance of different lengths of catheters was compared. Results: During 103 months (from February 2009 to September 2017), 30 femoral tunneled catheters were implanted in 19 patients; 15 each group, mean age was 56.3 years. Thirteen (68.4%) were men. Catheters with similar design, but with different lengths, yield comparable results in patency, complications and cause of removal. Conclusions: We suggest using femoral catheters with lengths from 25 to 55 cm (from the cuff to the tip) to obtain best results because such lengths are necessary to reach positions near the right atrium.

Keywords

• Catheters
• renal dialysis
• renal insufficiency
• chronic.