Relationship between Vessel Diameter and Time to Maturation of Arteriovenous Fistula for Hemodialysis Access

Introduction. Native arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the recommended vascular access for HD patients by the Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (DOQI) guidelines. The aim of our study was to determine the correlation between diameter and maturation of vessels in radiocephalic AVF. Methods. A prospective cross-sectional study carried out during 2006-2007 on 96 hemodialysis patients from Hasheminejad Kidney Center with non probability selection, all of them with end to side native AVF. Results. In this population 62.5% had wrist (distal radial artery) AVF and 37.5% had antecubital (proximal radial artery) AVF. The mean diameter of artery was 2.57 mm (SD = 1.09) and the mean diameter of vein was 2.40 mm (SD = 0.79). The mean of maturation period was 38.60 days (SD = 42.13). There were no relationship between duration of maturation period and diabetes mellitus, sex, age, diameter of vein and artery (P > 0.05). Period of maturation showed some correlation with the diameter of vein (P = 0.04) in patients with distal radiocephalic fistulae. Conclusions. The maturation of fistula shows correlation with vein diameter, but no correlation was seen with diameter of the arteries. There is much discrepancy between times to maturation in various reports. The average time for fistula maturation was 38/6 days in our study.