Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: With the innovative idea of Central Vein Catheter at the end of 80’s, treatment of hemodialysis patients faced a significant change. Nowadays CVC’s are widely used and as a result CVC related complications have become important for surgeons. In this study survival and complications associated with CVC’s have been studied in End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients referring to Shahid Hasheminejad Hospital during 2010-11.

Methods: In this cross- sectional and descriptive study,  all documents of ESRD patients’ that had catheter insertion at Hasheminejad Kidney Center during 2010-11 were included and demographic data, catheter related side effects, site of catheter, and duration of catheter utilization were taken from the records and major catheter related complications, reasons of catheter removal were obtained by descriptive analyses. We also calculated survival of catheters by Kaplan-meyer analytic method.

Results: In this study 150 records were enrolled with 122 male and 28 female patients, and a mean age of 56±15 years (range of 19-87 yrs). Regression analyses had shown that increasing age (p=0.003, RR=0.78), Hb (anemia), (p=0.04, RR=0.34), increased BUN (p=0.014, RR=0.37) and Cr (p=0.023, RR=0.45) levels had significant correlation with the side-effects. One and two months catheter survival were 88% and 69%, respectively.

Conclusion: Side effects were not higher than similar western studies. Studied patients had higher rates of anemia. Catheter thrombosis was reported as the second and local infection as the first common side effects. Survival of central vein catheters in Iran was similar to earlier conducted studies.