#3055 Replacement of tunneled cuffed hemodialysis catheters on coated guidewire: a strategic approach to treat CVC-related infections

Abstract

Abstract Background and Aims Infections of tunneled hemodialysis central venous catheters (CVCs) are a serious problem, and the outcome of dialysis patients strongly depends on their clinical management. Several specialists are involved in choosing the appropriate technical and clinical strategy but often there is no consensus among them on the proper management. We believe that the role of nephrologists must be pivotal in this setting throughout the entire process, from the choice of vascular access to the management of complications. Here, we present our experience using an approach to replace CVCs that was conceived to minimize the rate of infections. Method We propose a CVC replacement technique to minimize the risk of contamination by using a guidewire coating that allow no contact between the old and new CVC. We carried out a retrospective observational study of tunneled CVCs replacement with this technique performed at the Nephrology Unit of the "A. Gemelli Polyclinic" between January 2020 and June 2023. The following parameters were analyzed: age, sex, infection-supporting pathogen, CVC age, and dialysis age. Results During the reporting period, we carried out a total of 87 CVC guidewire replacement procedures for HD tunneled catheters defined “access to be preserved” using our technique. Among the patients (median age 70,6) undergoing this procedure, n=5 (5.75%) presented with endocarditis (n=4 by Staphylococcus aureus, n=1 by Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The follow-up ranged from 6 months to 3 years. During this time only one patient, with endocarditis, had a recurrent infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa after 3 months from the CVC replacement whereas 12 patients presented a de novo CVC infection caused by a different pathogen (n=4 by Staphylococcus aureus, n=1 by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Conclusion Overall, our data are encouraging as the lower rate of recurrent infections in our cohort suggests that our CVC replacement technique can be potentially used even in case of dangerous pathogens.