Interventional nephrology in peritoneal dialysis: Best practice report of the Peritoneal Dialysis Project Group of the Italian Society of Nephrology*

Abstract

The procedure of peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter placement is of utmost importance for a good outcome of peritoneal dialysis. Currently, catheters are mainly placed by surgeons and interventional nephrologists. Still, there is a lack of trained personnel in many dialysis units, which can impair the efficiency of PD units and reduce the patients’ possibility to enter a PD programme. The Italian Society of Nephrology has endorsed a practical core curriculum for interventional nephrology in PD available on the Society website, which is here reported for the wider nephrology community. The topics addressed are the hernias of the abdominal wall, catheter placement with standard surgical open technique, basic video-laparoscopy, advanced video-laparoscopy, video-laparoscopic cholecystectomy and catheter placement, cuff–shaving and video-laparoscopy in catheter malfunction.