Comparison of Nephroscope-assisted "Pulling Thread" Technique and Conventional Open Placement of Peritoneal Dialysis Catheters in Patients With End-stage Renal Disease.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical outcomes between nephroscope-assisted "pulling thread" technique (NPT) and conventional open placement (OP) of catheters in peritoneal dialysis patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 97 consecutive patients undergoing either NPT (n = 57) or OP (n = 40) for peritoneal dialysis catheter placement from March 2007 to May 2015. The operation-related data, early catheter-related complications, and long-term catheter survival were analyzed.

RESULTS: The overall early catheter-related complication rate was lower in NPT compared with OP (P = .0035). Furthermore, OP had a significantly higher rate of catheter migration than NPT (15.0% vs 3.5%, respectively, P = .042). Patients undergoing NPT had better catheter survival than those undergoing OP, with 1-year survival rates of 93.5% and 81.1%, and 2-year survival rates of 83.0% and 63.3%, respectively (P = .007).

CONCLUSION: NPT exhibited superiority to OP in terms of the postoperative early complication rate and catheter survival. This novel technique would thus be ideal for peritoneal dialysis catheter placement.