BACKGROUND/AIMS Arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) appear to be clinically superior to catheters as vascular access for maintenance hemodialysis, but higher insertion costs and high disease burden and mortality obscure the issue of whether AVF placement before hemodialysis initiation represents a net cost savings. We aimed to investigate Medicare costs for patients beginning maintenance hemodialysis...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) failure remains an important cause of morbidity in hemodialysis patients. The exact underlying mechanisms responsible for AVF failure are unknown but processes like proliferation, inflammation, vascular remodeling, and thrombosis are thought to be involved. The current objective was to investigate the association between AVF failure and sing...

Chronic traumatic arteriovenous fistula (AVF) commonly results from an unrecognized vascular injury. In this report, there were two cases of chronic traumatic AVF of the legs with a long history of stab (case 1) and shotgun wounds (case 2). Both cases presented with varicose veins together with hyperpigmentation around the ankle of the affected leg. Angiograms showed a single large AVF in case ...

Arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) are the most preferred and promoted form of dialysis access due to their lowest complication rates. However, the changing demographic profile of endstage renal disease (ESRD) with an increasing elderly and diabetic population having relatively poor vasculature, relative lack of prudent pre-ESRD planning for AV fistula creation, late referrals, and comparatively lowe...

BACKGROUND Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and cardiac inhibitor of metalloproteinase (CIMP) are coexpressed in the heart. Although it is known that oxidative stress activates MMP and CIMP inhibits MMP, it is unclear whether CIMP administration attenuates oxidative stress and MMP-mediated cardiac dilatation. METHODS AND RESULTS Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) was created in C57BL/J6 mice, and CIMP...

Arterio-Venous Fistulae (AVF) are regarded as the "gold standard" method of vascular access for patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) who require haemodialysis. However, up to 60% of AVF do not mature, and hence fail, as a result of Intimal Hyperplasia (IH). Unphysiological flow and oxygen transport patterns, associated with the unnatural and often complex geometries of AVF, are believed...

Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation failure is the primary cause of dialysis vascular access dysfunction. To evaluate whether preoperative vascular functional properties predict postoperative AVF measurements, patients enrolled in the Hemodialysis Fistula Maturation Study underwent up to five preoperative vascular function tests (VFTs): flow-mediated dilation (FMD), nitroglycerin-mediated di...

Rationale & Objective Suboptimal dialysis preparation of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, but little known about its relationship to psychosocial factors. This study aimed assess patients’ attitudes access creation and identify factors associated intentions regarding outcomes. Study Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Participants 190 stage 4/5 CKD not receiving treate...

T he 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth is upon us. As if his musical genius, exhibited even as a child, needed any additional lustre, the past decade has seen claims that exposure to his music is associated not only with aesthetic pleasure but with better mathematics skills, enhanced brain development in utero, improved learning among college students, and improved spatial-temporal reasoning ...