Switching temporary hemodialysis catheters to long-term catheters: Exchange versus de-novo placement, any difference in line infection?

Background: Shifting from a short-term catheter to a long-term one is done either by removing the old catheter and placing a new long-term one via fresh new puncture site, or by replacing the old catheter with a long-term one over a guidewire. Aim: We aimed to describe our technique in changing a temporary line to a long-term catheter (LTC) over a guidewire and to determine the incidence of line-related infections following this procedure. Materials and methods: A retrospective pilot study was conducted between 2005 and 2010 at the American University of Beirut Hospital. We compared the first group (A), which consisted of 20 patients who underwent exchange of a short-term dialysis catheter with a tunneled one over a guidewire using our technique, to a second group (B) of 60 patients who underwent de-novo LTC placement. The two groups were matched by age, with a followup of at least 1 month. Results: The technical success rate of the catheter-conversion procedure was 100%. Our results revealed no significant difference of catheter duration between the two groups, with median duration of 6.5 vs. 4.0 days for group A and group B, respectively (p = 0.21). Moreover, there was also no significant mean time difference between any infection and long term catheter (LTC) insertion among the two groups (p = 0.31). Furthermore, there was no difference of catheter infection between the two groups (p = 0.1). Conclusion: We concluded that there was no difference in terms of side effects or risk of infection in the guidewire group when compared to standard technique.