Anaesthesia in chronic dialysis patients: A narrative review

Table 3 Common dialysis access procedures

Surgical procedure	Technical notes	Anaesthetic techniques
Arteriovenous fistula creation	Surgical construction of a connection between an artery and vein to enable repeated cannulation for chronic haemodialysis. Typically in the upper limb. Elective procedure	Local anaesthesia. Regional anaesthesia (e.g. brachial plexus block). Sedation or general anaesthesia
Tunnelled haemodialysis catheter insertion	Insertion of a central venous catheter, usually in the internal jugular vein, which is tunnelled through a subcutaneous tract. Similar to a standard uncuffed central venous line placement. Urgent or elective procedure	Local anaesthesia. Sedation
Peritoneal dialysis catheter insertion	Implantation of a catheter into the peritoneal cavity, which is then tunnelled through a subcutaneous tract. Both surgical and percutaneous radiologic methods are used. Elective procedure	Local anaesthesia. Sedation or general anaesthesia