Experience with arteriovenous fistulas for chronic hemodialysis in children: technical details and refinements.

PURPOSE The aim of this paper is to report our experience in the creation of arteriovenous fistulas in children by using microsurgical vascular techniques, with emphasis on the details of the surgical technique. METHODS The children underwent surgery from July 1997 to March 2004. Operating loupes (magnification: 3.5X) were used by the entire surgical team. After dissection and adequate mobilization, the vein was anastomosed to the artery in an end-to-lateral fashion by using 4 separate 7/0 or 8/0 prolene running sutures. RESULTS Twenty nine children underwent 33 fistula creations - 21 radiocephalic, 6 brachiocephalic, 4 brachiobasilic, and 2 saphenofemoral. Primary patency was achieved in 17/21 (80.9%) of the radiocephalic fistulas, 5/6(83.3%) of the brachiocephalic, 3/4 (75.0%) of the brachiobasilic, and 2/2 (100%) of saphenofemoral. Two patients developed fistula occlusion and radial artery thrombosis, and in 2 others, radiocephalic fistulas became occluded in the first or second postoperative week. In the late postoperative period, the saphenofemoral fistulas were responsible for significant edema formation in the lower extremity; an aneurysm formed in a brachiocephalic fistula after a long period of utilization. As to the patency of the different sites of fistulas, the brachiocephalic and brachiobasilic fistulas had the same incidence of patency as the radiocephalic fistulas (P >.05). CONCLUSIONS This experience indicates that the arteriovenous fistulas are a satisfactory method for providing hemodialysis in children. The utilization of microsurgical techniques and some technical refinements herein described permit the attainment of high patency rates of the fistulas.