Postoperative Arterial Relaxation and Intraoperative Venous Dilation as Interconnected Prognostic Factors for the Maturation of Arteriovenous Fistulas.

AIM To investigate if immediate arterial distention can be used as a predictive factor for the development of a good fistula. MATERIAL AND METHODS Over a 5-months period (January- May 2015) all the patients who underwent an arteriovenous fistula between the radial artery and the cephalic vein of the forearm at the Second Surgical Clinic of the Iasi Regional Cancer Institute and were willing to participate were enrolled in the study. The diameters of the vessels were measured 1 hour and 8 weeks after surgery. RESULTS We found statistically significant differences for all measured diameter variations between the calcified artery and normal artery groups (p < 0.001 for the arterial distention at 1 hour and 8 weeks after surgery and p = 0.002 for the venous distention 8 weeks after surgery). A linear regression also showed that the degree of arterial distention immediately after surgery and the venous distention 8 weeks after surgery were statistically correlated. CONCLUSIONS Arterial distention immediately after surgery and therefore the lack of it due to the presence of arterial calcifications can be used to predict whether or not a good fistula can be achieved at a 1% statistical significance level.