An unusual case of central venous catheter-related bacteremia.

Some hemodialysed patients need definitive central venous catheterization. One of the main complications is catheter infection, and each infection must be treated. We report a case of an unusual cause of central venous catheter (CVC) infection: physical examination and catheter opacification demonstrated two pin-holes in the catheter. It was possible to salvage the catheter following a treatment regimen combining systemic antibiotics, antibiotic locks, fibrinolytics, and removal of a catheter segment.

Management of perianastomotic stenosis of direct wrist autogenous radial-cephalic arteriovenous accesses for dialysis.

OBJECTIVE: Radial-cephalic fistulas (RCFs) perianastomotic stenoses (PASs) are on and around the fistula anastomosis. This group of lesions encompasses juxta-anastomotic stenosis (stenosis located on the venous side within 3 cm away from the anastomosis), anastomotic, and arterial stenosis. The purpose of our study was to assess the postintervention primary patency and assisted postintervention primary patency (APP) rates for surgery and angioplasty when treating these stenoses. The secondary endpoint was to identify factors that might influence the procedure's patency rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 73 consecutive patients treated for lack of maturation PASs between January 1999 and December 2005 in two interventional centers. Patients' mean age was 65 years old. Stenoses were treated by surgery (n = 21) or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA; n = 52). Surgery meant creation of a new anastomosis excluding the area of stenosis. Preoperative characteristics including the patient's age, gender, comorbidities, stenosis location, and length were not statistically different between the two groups. The mean follow-up was 39 months for PTA and 49 months for surgery. RESULTS: Anatomical and clinical success rates were 86% and 90% for surgery, and 75% and 92% for PTA. At 1 year, the primary patency rates were 71 ± 10% for surgery and 41 ± 6% for PTA, respectively (P < .02). There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to assisted primary patency (95% vs 92%). In the PTA group, stenosis location at the anastomosis itself was a risk factor of early recurrence (P = .047). The complication rate was similar between surgery and PTA. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the treatment of anastomotic stenoses should be surgical rather than endovascular. Angioplasty and surgery have shown similar results when used to treat other perianastomotic stenoses, but repeat procedures were more frequent with angioplasty.

Death after withdrawal from dialysis: the most common cause of death in a French dialysis population.

BACKGROUND: Discontinuation of dialysis is a common cause of death in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in North America and the UK, but appears to be unusual in the rest of Europe. The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize withdrawal from dialysis in a French population cohort. METHODS: We assessed the cause of death, and the medical and social characteristics of chronic dialysis patients in a French population who died in 2001. We compared patients who died after withdrawal from dialysis and patients continuing dialysis until death. We determined the decision-making process when dialysis was withdrawn. RESULTS: In a population cohort of 1436 dialysis patients, 196 died (13.9%). Of them, 40 patients (20.4%) died following withdrawal from dialysis. This was the most common cause of death, followed by cardio-vascular disease (18.4%). Patients withdrawing from dialysis had a significantly higher rate of dementia (17.5 vs 6.4%, P = 0.02), a poor general condition (55 vs 15.4%, P < 0.001), and were dependent in their life for everyday activities in comparison with patients who died from other causes. They were not different in age, sex, duration of dialysis treatment, dialysis technique, cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, stroke or cancer, but the sample size was small. Treatment was more often removed in patients with severe medical complications and/or cachexia (90%). The decision to stop dialysis was made most often by a physician (77.5%). CONCLUSION: Death after withdrawing from dialysis was the most common cause of death in ESRD patients in our French population cohort. The patients who died after discontinuation of treatment were more often in a poor general condition, near the end of life, and most often the physician decided to stop dialysis treatment.

Interventional radiology in hemodialysis fistulae and grafts: a multidisciplinary approach.

PURPOSE: To review the place of interventional radiology in arteriovenous access for hemodialysis. METHODS: Prophylactic dilation of stenoses greater than 50% associated with clinical abnormalities such as flow-rate reduction is warranted to prolong access patency. Stents are placed only in selected cases with clearly insufficient results of dilation but they must never overlap major side veins and obviate future access creation. Thrombosed fistulae and grafts can be declotted by purely mechanical methods or in combination with a lytic drug. RESULTS: The success rates are over 90% for dilation, with frequent resort to stents in central veins. Long-term results in the largest series are better in forearm native fistulae compared with grafts (best 1-year primary patency: 51% versus 40%). The success rates for declotting are better in grafts compared with forearm fistulae but early rethrombosis is frequent in grafts so that primary patency rates can be better for native fistulae from the first month's follow-up (best 1-year primary patency: 49% versus 26%). CONCLUSION: Radiology achieves results comparable with surgery, with minimal invasiveness and better venous preservation. However, wide variations in the results suggest that the degree of commitment of physicians might be as important as the type of technique used.