Vascular access for hemodialysis: Thrills and thrombosis

Hemodialysis is a life saving treatment for Americans with end stage renal disease. In the last decade, liberal selection of patients treated by hemodialysis has resulted in patients who are substantially older, diabetics, who have higher co-morbidities including extensive atherosclerotic vascular disease. Many of these patients start hemodialysis treatments with a synthetic graft access rather than with their own native vessels. Grafts are appropriate for patients with inadequate vessels for construction of an arterio-venous (A-V) fistulas.

The National Kidney Foundation published the Dialysis Outcome Quality Initiative (DOQI) guidelines in 1997, a set of evidenced based guidelines regarding the optimal management of vascular access. One important guideline had been to increase the number of patient dialyzing with Arterio-Venous (A-V) fistulas rather than A-V grafts which are prone to frequent stenosis, thrombosis, and thus are more costly and labor intensive.

The prevalence of patient dialyzing with fistulas depends on several factors; timing of the referral, anatomy and adequacy of the patients vessels, type of fistula placed, fistula maturation, minimal accepted dialysis blood flow and patency of the fistula.

The management of a vascular access for hemodialysis is a challenging area of practice for those who care for the hemodialysis patient population. The multidisciplinary approach to management of patients with hemodialysis access includes support, education, collaboration and ongoing communication with the multidisciplinary team, patients, and their family members.