Endovascular Therapy to Salvage Hemodialysis Access

Abstract

Purpose: Maintaining function of dialysis access is very important to end stage renal disease patients, and it is critical for these patients’ overall well-bing. This study was performed to evaluate the success rate of endovascular interventions, risk factors and patencies of interventions. Methods: From January 2008 to June 2010, 315 interventions were performed on 189 patients with malfunctioning hemodialysis access. Angioplastic intervention (n=147), and percutaneous mechanical thrombectomies (n=168) were done to restore flow of vascular access. Results: Most common cause of malfunctioning hemodialysis accesses was stenosis (71%) in autogenous fistula group (AFG) and thrombosis (73%) in prosthetic graft group (PGG). Common stenotic site was juxta-anastomotic area (48%) in AFG, and venous anastomotic area (42%) in PGG, primary patencies of interventions at 6, 12, and 18 months were 67%, 45%, and 37% and secondary patencies were 83%, 66%, and 49%, respectively. Finally, thrombotic events (P=0.005) and numbers of procedure (P=0.000) were independent predictive factors of shorter access patency after endovascular treatment. Conclusion: Endovascular treatment in malfunctioning hemodialysis access is highly successful procedure with acceptable primary and secondary patency results. Especially, in the cases of stenotic lesion without thrombosis, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty was successfully done in AFG and PGG.