Fibrinolysis in the management of malignant ascites and nonfunctioning intraperitoneal tunneled catheters

The use of tunneled semipermanent intraperitoneal catheters is becoming increasingly widespread in the management of intractable malignant ascites. There is a lack of published data on the successful management of complications of these catheters in cases of malignant ascites. The current study reports four cases of nonfunctioning catheters due to fibrin blockage or ascitic loculation, all of which were successfully treated with intraperitoneal fibrinolysis with streptokinase.