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 w ere elective in previously identified renal failure patients. In elective c ases, mean length of hospital stay was 6.75 days (SD, 7.01), median 4.5 day s. These Canadian data are similar to those from the American Health Cost a nd Utilization Project. Evidently surgical PD catheter placement even in el ective, planned circumstances involves a significant use of hospital resour ces. Current published reports do not outline hospital resource requirement s or complication rates for this method.