[Tesio catheters for long-term hemodialysis: our experience in a comarcal hospital]

Good vascular access remains the cornerstone of effective hemodialysis treatment. The Tesio catheters has been proposed to be a reliable source of vascular access for the dialysis patients.

We examined all Tesio catheters inserted over a 3-year period in our hospital. We obtained age, sex, dialysis duration, original nephropaty, vascular access history, complications, dialysis parameters, catheter function duration, confort level for patients and nurses, and death in all our cases.

33 catheters were inserted in 30 patients, 14 male and 16 female. Age 73,92 +/- 9,22 years. Dialysis duration, 25,64 +/- 53,45 months. Diabetic nephropaty 26,66%, NAE 40%, others 33,33%. First vascular access in 13 patients (43,33%), one previously fistula, 5 patients (16,66%), and more of one FAV, 12 patients (40%). We observed two bleeding cases, eight parcial trombosis, one total trombosis (non-function), six tunneled infection and two systemic infection. Only 3 catheters were removal. We obteined good dialysis parameters. Confort state for patients and nurses were satisfactory. Death 12 patients. Catheter function at the moment of study 16,76 +/-12,99 months.

We concluded that Tesio catheters can provide excellent long-term vascular access for hemodialysis patients, especially in the older people and with some previous failure fistulas, with low complication rates and acceptable dialysis parameters and tolerance. However, the arteriovenous fistula remains the gold standard for long-term hemodialysis access.