18 Months Experience with a New (valli) Catheter for Peritoneal Dialysis

Abstract

The authors describe their experiences with a new type of peritoneal catheter in 45 patients with end-stage renal disease treated with intermittent (IPD) or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) over 18 months. This new catheter consists of an abdominal part, similar in diameter to the Tenckhoff catheter but with larger holes; this part is enveloped in a silastic balloon with many holes. An important advantage of the new catheter is an outflow rate that is much higher than the Tenckhoff catheter. The incidence of malfunction was considerably reduced an d in addition, there were no cases of catheter failure due to blood or fibrin clots or wrapping by omentum.