title: Complications of catheters: tunneled and nontunneled.
abstract: Central venous catheters for hemodialysis remain an indispensable modality of vascular access in the United States. Despite strong recommendations by the NKF-KDOQI guidelines to reduce the dependence on catheters, > 80% of all patients initiate hemodialysis using a central venous catheter. Although the tunneled dialysis catheters have some advantages, their disadvantages are many and often dwarf the miniscule advantages. This review is intended to discuss the complications--both acute and chronic--related to the use of tunneled dialysis catheters for hemodialysis access.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 52713, USA. hvats@uwhealth.org
authors.forename: Hemender Singh
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Vats
mesh_terms: D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000379:methods*