Resource utilization for peritoneal catheter placement

We reviewed hospitalization data for our large regional peritoneal dialysis (PD) program between January 1, 1997, and November 30, 1998, to determine the impact of inpatient PD catheter placement, by using Toronto Western II catheters placed under general anesthesia. Of 106 catheter placements, 80 were elective in previously identified renal failure patients. In elective cases, mean length of hospital stay was 6.75 days (SD, 7.01), median 4.5 days. These Canadian data are similar to those from the American Health Cost and Utilization Project. Evidently surgical PD catheter placement even in elective, planned circumstances involves a significant use of hospital resources. Current published reports do not outline hospital resource requirements or complication rates for this method.