Potential clinical value of catheters impregnated with antimicrobials for the prevention of infections associated with peritoneal dialysis.

Introduction: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a widely used dialysis modality, which offers the advantage of being a home therapy but is associated with a risk of potentially serious infections, including exit site infection, catheter tunnel infection, and peritonitis that may result in morbidity, technique failure, and increased mortality. Catheters impregnated with antimicrobials hold promise as a novel technique to reduce PD associated infections.

Areas covered: We describe PD modalities, catheters, technique, complications, and the microbiology of associated infections, as well as standard measures to reduce the risk of infection. A novel technique for the impregnation of silicone devices with antimicrobial agents has been used to produce antimicrobial impregnated ventricular shunt catheters with proven clinical efficacy that have now been adopted as the standard of care to reduce neurosurgical infections. Using the same technology, we have developed PD and urinary catheters impregnated with sparfloxacin, triclosan, and rifampicin. Safety and tolerability have been demonstrated in urinary catheters, and a similar study is planned in PD catheters.

Expert opinion: Catheters impregnated with antimicrobials offer a simple technique to reduce PD associated infections and thereby enable more people to enjoy the advantages of PD. Clinical trials are needed to establish efficacy.