RESEARCH ARTICLE


Central Venous Catheters in Dialysis: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly



Nabil J. Haddad, Sheri Van Cleef , Anil K. Agarwal*
Internal Medicine, Interventional Nephrology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA


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Creative Commons License
Anil K. Agarwal (Eds.) All rights reserved-© 2014 Bentham Science Publishers

* Address correspondence to this author at the Internal Medicine, Interventional Nephrology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA; Tel: 614 293 4997; Fax: 614 293 3073; E-mail: aagarwal@pol.net


Abstract

Central venous catheters (CVC) continue to remain a common modality of vascular access in end stage kidney disease patients maintained on hemodialysis. The increased morbidity and mortality associated with CVC, when compared to arteriovenous fistulas and grafts, is a serious health problem and a big challenge to the nephrology community. In this article we present the pros and cons of CVC, in addition to the different complications and excessive economical costs related to their use.

Keywords: Central venous catheters, hemodialysis, fibrin sheath, catheter infection, CVC complications, vascular access, tunneled catheters, CVC advantages.