To Shower or Not to Shower? Personal Hygiene, Safety, and Patient Choice in Hemodialysis Catheter Care In the United States, more than 90,000 patients commence dialysis annually via a central venous catheter (CVC) and more than 100,000 prevalent patients use a CVC as a primary vascular access for hemodialysis.1 The use of CVCs for hemodialysis is associated with an increased risk of infection and mortality compared to a fistula or graft. The most recent US National Healthcare Safety Network Dialysis Event Surveillance Report, which includes data from 7,129 dialysis clinics, noted that the rate of bloodstream infections (BSI) in patients with CVCs was 7-fold higher than those with fistulas and 4-fold higher than those with a graft.
https://www.ajkd.org/article/S....0272-6386(25)00692-4