Survival and Catheter Related Complications Among Iranian End Stage Renal Disease Patients: Hasheminejad Kidney Center, 2010 to 2011

The invention of central venous catheters (CVC) for hemodialysis (HD), brought about a fundamental change in the treatment of patients who needed HD, from the late 1970’s till the present time. Nowadays the use of CVC is a common medical procedure. Increasing use of these methods necessitates clarification of the exact nature of the effects, and potential complications for surgeons.. This study attempts to determine the frequency of CVC; complications, survival rates and outcomes in HD patients, treated at the Hasheminejad Kidney Center, Tehran from January 2010 till June 2011..Patients and In this cross-sectional descriptive study, we collected data (using the census method) from the records of all patients over the age of 18 years, who had been referred, from January 2010 till June 2011, for CVC insertion. Catheter sites, related complications, creatinine (Cr), hemoglobin (Hgb), survival rate of catheters and the patients’ demographic data, were collected and analyzed.. In this study, 150 patients were evaluated, 122 participants (81%) were male and 28 (19%) were female. The patients’ average age was 56.2 ± 5 years (19 to 87 years). Regression analysis between the patients, with and without complications, showed that increasing age (P = 0.003, RR = 0.78), decreases in Hgb (P = 0.04, RR = 0.34) and also increased Cr (P = 0.023, RR = 0.45), and BUN (P = 0.014, RR = 0.37) are significantly correlated with catheter-related complications as independent risk factors. The one month survival rate of temporary catheters was 77.3% and their two-month survival was 60%. The overall rate of complications in the present study was no higher than in other similar studies. Anemia rates, however, were much higher in our patients. Most of the complications involved catheter infections, followed by catheter thrombosis. CVC survival rates in Iran have an acceptable outcome and results of this study were similar to those of past studies.