Introduction: The development of thoracic central venous obstruction (TCVO) leads to narrowing of the vessel lumen which impacts blood flow and the placement of central venous access. The most common cause of TCVO is central venous catheters (CVCs) which can induce intravascular scarring or endoluminal obstruction via thrombus formation.
Areas covered: The Surfacer® System is used to obtain central venous access (CVA) in patients with TCVO by facilitating catheter insertion via the novel Inside-Out® approach. This review summarizes the results of clinical studies to date with the Surfacer System, focusing on how the procedure is performed, clinical efficacy and safety of the device and patient populations where the device offers substantial clinical benefit.
Expert opinion: The Surfacer System offers a safe and effective approach to reliably preserve and restore critical upper body vascular access sites. For dialysis patients, the device offers an alternative which avoids placement of dialysis catheters in veins which may impact the ability to achieve maturation of hemodialysis vascular access or in locations which have an increased risk of insertion-related complications or are associated with higher morbidity.
Keywords: Hemodialysis; catheter; central venous obstruction; inside-out.