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About Potential Complications
Associated With Haemodialysis Catheters
Haemodialysis is a treatment used
when kidneys fail (Stage 5 Kidney Disease) and can no longer clean
blood and remove extra fluid from your body. A haemodialysis
access or vascular access is a way to reach your blood for
haemodialysis.
Haemodialysis Catheters are
implanted and used in haemodialysis (treatment to filter waste and
water from the blood), apheresis (a technology that separates
donated blood components to treat certain illnesses), and infusion
(a method of putting fluids into the bloodstream) for up to 21
days.
A 2018 estimate put the number of
patients on chronic dialysis in India at about 175,000, giving a
prevalence of 129 per million population.
Dialysis catheters are used either
as temporary solutions or as a bridging device while patients wait
for fistula or graft maturation or kidney transplantation, or as
the sole chronic access method. Complications associated with
dialysis access, and especially with dialysis catheters, are on
the rise as patients diagnosed with end stage renal disease (ESRD)
are increasing both in age and in co-morbidities.
Complications of Haemodialysis
Catheters include infection, thrombosis, cardiac arrthymia,
entrapped guide wire and malposition.
Recently, based on complaints of
injuries, US FDA ordered recall for a Dual Lumen High Flow
Catheters manufactured by a leading medical device company due to
a potential catheter hub defect that may cause leaks across the
catheter’s tubes. During treatment, this leak could result in
mixing of the arterial and venous blood, lead to increased
recirculation and poor dialysis, or cause the development of blood
clots in the blood vessels.
The use of the defective catheter
may cause serious adverse health outcomes, including bleeding or
the need for surgical removal and replacement of the affected
catheter.
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