title: A Retrospective Study of Preferable Alternative Route to Right Internal Jugular Vein for Placing Tunneled Dialysis Catheters: Right External Jugular Vein versus Left Internal Jugular Vein.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Right internal jugular vein (IJV) is a preferred access route for tunneled (cuffed) dialysis catheters (TDCs), and both right external jugular vein (EJV) and left IJV are alternative routes for patients in case the right IJV isn't available for TDC placement. This retrospective study aimed to determine if a disparity exists between the two alternative routes in hemodialysis patients in terms of outcomes of TDCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  49 hemodialysis patients who required TDCs through right EJV (n = 21) or left IJV (n = 28) as long-term vascular access were included in this study. The primary end point was cumulative catheter patency. Secondary end points include primary catheter patency, proportion of patients that never required urokinase and incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 20,870 catheter-days were evaluated and the median was 384 (interquartile range, 262-605) catheter-days. Fewer catheters were removed in the right EJV group than in the left IJV group (P = 0.007). Mean cumulative catheter patency was higher in the right EJV group compared with the left IJV group (P = 0.031). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of CRBSI, primary catheter patency or proportion of patients that never required urokinase use. Total indwell time of antecedent catheters was identified as an independent risk factor for cumulative catheter patency by Cox regression hazards test with an HR of 2.212 (95% CI, 1.363-3.588; p = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Right EJV might be superior to left IJV as an alternative insertion route for TDC placement in hemodialysis patients whose right IJVs are unavailable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yufei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yingjin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Sijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xianhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Blood purification center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhangsuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000209:etiology*; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D062905:Central Venous Catheters; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007601:Jugular Veins; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome