Comparison of Taurolock solution with heparin as lock solution of tunneled catheters

Introduction:
The employment of dialysis catheters can result in catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI), leads to hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality. Citrate-taurolidine lock solution can lower the occurrence of CRBSI. This study was done to evaluate Citrate-taurolidine lock solution for decreasing CRBSI.


Materials and Methods:
This retrospective study included 89 patients who received hemodialysis for at least 6 months via a tunneled catheter. A comparison was made between patients who were administered TauroLock-Hep500™ (taurolidine, citrate, and heparin) or heparin lock solution for catheter-related infection and catheter dysfunction.


Results:
In this study, 47 patients received heparin lock-solution and 42 patients received Taurolock lock-solution. During a total of 7560 catheter days, the Taurolock group experienced CRBSI in 3 patients. In contrast, the heparin group had 15 patients with CRBSI over a span of 8140 catheter days. This corresponds to an incidence rate of 0.39 episodes of CRBSI per 1000 catheter days in the Taurolock group and 1.84 episodes per 1000 catheter days in the heparin group. Catheter dysfunction rates were similar in the Taurolock group compared to the heparin lock solution. In addition, in the Heparin group, two patients necessitated catheter removal, whereas no patients in the Taurolock group required catheter removal.


Conclusion:
Our study demonstrates a higher incidence of CRBSI in the Heparin group compared to the Taurolock solution and a similar effectiveness of the Taurolock solution in preventing catheter dysfunction over Heparin.