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The Curious Bag
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Cannon catheters offer long-term vascular access for dialysis treatment. They benefit patients because accessing veins for dialysis can be painful and take months to achieve, but they are prone to more problems than other methods.
Dialysis
Dialysis is used if a person suffers kidney failure. Kidneys clean the blood of waste; when they fail, dialysis does this job by using a machine called a dialyzer. A patient's blood is run through a dialyzer, which filters it and returns it to the patient. Cannon catheters facilitate this process.
Catheters
Cannon catheters are tubes that carry the blood between the patient and the dialyzer. They have two openings, one that carries blood to the machine and another that returns it.
Placement
Cannon catheters are inserted into the jugular vein, following it into the heart.
Benefits
Cannon catheters allow patients to begin treatment quickly, before permanent access methods can be established. They also require fewer needle sticks than other methods.
Warnings
Catheters are prone to infection and clogs and can narrow the veins in which they are inserted. Permanent access through a fistula or graft is less prone to complications, but requires much more time to prepare.
Source:
NKUDIC: Vascular Access for Hemodialysis
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