Outcomes of a nephrologist-driven tunnelled dialysis catheter insertion service in South East Asia

Tunnelled dialysis catheters (TDCs) are being increasingly inserted by nephrologists globally but there is limited experience and paucity of published outcomes data from South-East Asia (SEA). This study was conducted to analyse the outcomes of TDC insertion by nephrologists from a single centre in SEA.

All patients who underwent TDC insertion by nephrologists from October 2013 to June 2016 were included. TDC survival was calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival method. Impact of variables was assessed using Cox proportional hazards model.

A total of 344 TDCs were inserted in 274 patients. The most common indication was haemodialysis initiation (60.2%) followed by existing catheter dysfunction (CD) (12.2%), failed vascular access (10.2%) and catheter-related bacteraemia (CRB) (9.9%). Insertion was successful in 97% patients. The most common location was the right internal jugular vein (87%). The cumulative survival for all TDCs inserted, as defined by the time to non-elective removal of a TDC, at 3, 6 and 9 months was 83%, 61%, and 44%, respectively. Median catheter survival was 231 days. Common indications for removal were CD (13.4%) and CRB or suspected infection (12.5%). Common complications were bleeding (8.72%), infection (13.7%) and CD (16.5%). Median time to infection was 103 days. In multivariate analysis, male gender was associated with poor catheter survival, for primary insertions (p = 0.015, HR 0.62) and diabetes was associated with TDC infection (p = 0.024, OR 1.1).

This is one of the first reports of TDC insertion by nephrologists from SEA. Our outcomes compare favourably with those reported in the literature.