Salvage of a dialysis angioaccess by bypassing a central venous obstruction to the common femoral vein

Abstract

We describe the case of a 71 year-old male patient undergoing haemodialysis who presented with severe symptoms of venous hypertension at the left upper extremity due to subclavian and innominate vein obstruction. The patient had a well functioning ispilateral angioaccess. The pain and disabling swelling of the upper extremity developed 12 months after having a radio-cephalic arteriovenous fistula performed and progressively worsened in the last two months. The patient underwent extraanatomic axillo-femoral venous bypass grafting with a 8 mm polytetrafluoroethylene graft to the ispilateral common femoral vein. The postoperative recovery was regular and the patient was discharged 6 days after surgery with a functioning bypass and relief from the venous hypertension symptoms. In this case, surgical bypassing of a central venous obstruction through an extra-anatomical pathway relieved the symptoms of venous hypertension and prolonged the use of the haemodialysis access.