20.500.12556/DiRROS-25421 Comparable rates of catheter-related bloodstream infections between non-tunneled and tunneled hemodialysis catheters a retrospective single-center study Background: A hemodialysis catheter may serve as a short- or medium-term vascular access solution. Current guidelines suggest restricting non-tunneled catheter use to 2 weeks, partially based on studies using straight non-tunneled jugular catheters, which have now been widely replaced with pre-curved catheters. We compared the rate of catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSIs) and possible CRBSIs (PCRBSIs) of pre-curved non-tunneled and tunneled catheters in our hemodialysis center. Methods: This was a retrospective study including patients dialyzed on an outpatient basis between 1 January 2018 and 1 July 2024, with a follow-up until 1 March 2025. The primary aim was to compare the rates of CRBSIs. Results: In 301 patients, 625 non-tunneled single lumen catheter pairs and 53 double lumen tunneled catheters were used. There were 53 CRBSIs in non-tunneled and 10 in tunneled catheters, with identical incidence rate (0.48/1000 catheter-days in both groups). Analyzing CRBSIs and PCRBSIs together also showed similar infection rates [0.66 vs 0.58, incidence rate ratio (IRR) with 95% confidence interval 1.14 (0.6–2.1), P = .68]. Two subanalyses were made: CRBSI IRR in 27 patients with both types of catheters during study period was 1.37 (0.55–3.41, P = .49) and 2.01 (0.52–7.72, P = .47) in 36 patients after their first CRBSI. Time to CRBSI was also comparable in all analyses. Conclusions: Our study found no significant difference in the incidence of CRBSIs. We conclude that prolonged use of non-tunneled pre-curved catheters, which are easily managed, is a viable option for patients awaiting construction of arteriovenous fistula, insertion of a peritoneal catheter or kidney transplantation in a reasonable time. Promising results on long-term use from this study need to be confirmed in prospective studies. catheter-related blood stream infection chronic hemodialysis hemodialysis catheter pre-curved jugular non-tunneled catheters tunneled hemodialysis catheters katetrske sepse kronična hemodializa hemodializni kateter tuneliziran dializni kateter true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-01-20 10:44:58 2026-01-20 10:44:59 2026-01-21 03:50:01 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 20. 1. 2026; str. 1-8 no. 1 Vol. 19 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 616.61 2048-8513 10.1093/ckj/sfaf392 265358083 RAZ_Zrimsek_Matej_2026.pdf RAZ_Zrimsek_Matej_2026.pdf 1 BEA17BC2E5E8662601E85B8EC00F827C 61c48eff4db02e2ae82e7497fcf9c1903994930b53a4748001012623c1b3182f cd57a3cb-f5e4-11f0-a15d-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=38501 https://academic.oup.com/ckj/article/19/1/sfaf392/8381221 0 db913dd0-f5e4-11f0-a15d-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=38502 Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana 0 0 0