Feasibility of Endovascular Radiation Therapy Using Holmium-166 Filled Balloon Catheter in a Swine Hemodialysis Fistula Model: Preliminary Results

Abstract

For patients undergoing hemodialysis, vascular access failure of the arteriovenous native fistula or graft is a vexing problem. Major causes for this include venous stenosis or occlusion due to neointimal hyperplasia. While much effort has been put to reduce the incidence of neointimal hyperplasia with various methods, none of them have been effective clinically (1-3). For hemodialysis related to venous stenosis, percutaneous endovascular treatment has become an accepted alternative to surgical reconstruction, with a high success rate and prolonged patency (4). Among other alternative treatments, endovascular radiation therapy has been shown to decrease neointimal hyperplasia in an animal model (5) and was applied to coronary or peripheral arteries following balloon angioplasty for the treatment of stenosis (6, 7). However, a limited number of reports have been published concerning the effect of endovascular radiation therapy on venous stenoOriginal Article