PD Catheter Access: Placing the Catheter

Your kidneys filter and remove waste from your blood. When they fail, this work must be done some other way. Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a treatment that can take over when your kidneys stop working. the peritoneum is the membrane lining the inside of the abdomen (belly). PD uses the lining of your abdomen as a filter for your blood. Before PD can be done, an opening into this lining (an access) must be made. The access for PD is a soft tube called a catheter placed into your abdomen.

A technician or nurse will teach you how to use your PD system.

Placing the Catheter

• A nurse or anesthesiologist gives you medication so you don’t feel pain during surgery.

• A small opening is made just below your navel. The catheter is placed through this opening.

• One end of the catheter sits in your abdomen. A few inches of the other end comes out an exit site in your skin. This end is clamped off and capped when it’s not being used.