Dislodgement in Long-Term Patients with Nephrostomy Tube: Risk Factors and Comparative Analysis Between Two Catheter Designs

Abstract

Objective:

To determine possible risk factors for accidental nephrostomy tube dislodgement and compare two different tube types in this context in patients with chronic catheters.

Materials and Methods:

We conducted a retrospective study of long-term patients with nephrostomy tube. We performed a comparative analysis, studying the possible variables that were related to catheter dislodgement. In addition, a subanalysis was also carried out comparing different catheter designs (Pigtail and Foley) in case this could be related to the dislodgement.

Results:

Two hundred five cases were collected. A total of 51.2% of cases had a pigtail nephrostomy and 48.8% Foley type, and accidental dislodgement occurred in 26.3% of cases.

In multivariate analysis, we observed that first time nephrostomy tube placement entailed higher risk of accidental dislodgement than successive placements (odds ratio [OR] 1.95, confidence interval [CI] 1.01–3.74, p = 0.04). In the pigtail-type catheter patient subgroup, tubes placed by a resident were more prone to accidental dislodgement than those placed by an attending physician (OR 3.39, CI 1.29–8.91, p = 0.01), while first episode cases were more likely to have become dislodged than in a subsequent event (OR 3.17, CI 1.17–8.57, p = 0.02).

In addition, the mean (in days) until nephrostomy tube dislodgement in cases where this occurred was 20.32 ± 3.52 for pigtail and 60.92 ± 5.15 for Foley (p < 0.01 in Kaplan–Meier's test).

Conclusion:

Nephrostomy tube displacement in long-term patients is a common problem. Some factors associated with the catheter could increase the risk of involuntary displacement, such as being a first event or being inserted by less experienced resident doctors. In addition, pigtail type nephrostomies tend toward accidental dislodgement earlier than Foley ones.