Clinical Use of Stylet-Catheter For Peritoneal Dialysis

Abstract

THE AVAILABILITY, safety, and simplicity of peritoneal dialysis has led to the wide acceptance of this method for the treatment of patients in acute renal failure.¹ At first, the procedure for introducing peritoneal dialysis catheters required penetration of the abdominal wall with a 17-French paracentesis trocar.² Recently, McDonald ³ demonstrated that dialysis catheters could be inserted through a thin-walled, 14-French trocar with less trauma to the patient. However, despite the smaller trocar, the resulting abdominal opening still is of greater diameter than the catheter, and the possibilities of hemorrhage or leakage of dialysis fluid, although reduced, remain. Therefore, a new stylet-catheter has been devised which can be readily introduced into the peritoneal cavity without a trocar. Only a 6-French opening is made in the abdominal wall, which then stretches to fit the catheter so that no leakage occurs and the usual purse-string suture is not needed. Moreover, because