The types of fistulae used and their complication rates are important for the hemodialysis patients. We aimed to compare retrospectively the primary and secondary patency rates and complications of upper extremity arteriovenous fistulae. Between 1984 and 2005, a total of 1,233 upper extremity arteriovenous fistulae were created in 920 patients. The mean age was 42 +/- 21 years. The fistulae wer...

Maintenance of patent hemodialysis access is critical to prolonging the lives of patients with end-stage renal disease, and metallic stents have become a key tool for this purpose. This article discusses the primary and secondary indications for stent placement in dialysis patients, including angioplasty-induced acute venous rupture, central venous obstruction, early recurring stenosis, elastic...

A 42-year-old woman presented with end-stage renal failure secondary to reflux nephropathy in 1998. She was treated with haemodialysis after a brief attempt at peritoneal dialysis. Unfortunately, because of problems with arteriovenous fistulae, multiple central venous cannulations were required for dialysis. In June 2002, she presented with sudden onset facial swelling and distended veins over ...

We studied respiratory chemosensitivity in a patient with pulmonary arterio-venous (AV) fistulae before and after surgical removal of the lesions. The patient had had moderate hypoxaemia with hyperventilation before the operation. When first studied, 21 days following surgery, both hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory responses were found to be lower than they were preoperatively. During the nex...

The Kidney Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative and Fistula First Initiative have embraced the arteriovenous fistula as the gold standard for hemodialysis accesses. Despite this status, fistulae are fraught with complex issues ranging from a high primary failure rate to high flow resulting in increased cardiovascular morbidity. It is important not to overlook the insidious peril of a hyperfunct...

Twenty-three out of thirty-six patients using a forearm arteriovenous fistula for dialysis reported symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in the fistula hand during dialysis. By contrast with other reported groups of patients with the syndrome, symptoms were common in male patients, and confined to the non-dominant (fistula) hand. Predialysis venous pressure in the hand and hand volume were increa...

Worsening of ocular symptoms in cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistulae (CSDAVF) is rarely due to superior ophthalmic vein (SOV) thrombosis after palliative transarterial embolization and may resolve spontaneously. We present a unique case of a 38-year-old female whose ocular symptoms worsened three days after palliative embolization. Repeat angiography revealed incomplete thrombus of SOV ...

Ultrasonography for the noninvasive assessment of tissue properties has enjoyed widespread success. With the growing emphasis in recent years on arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) for dialysis vascular access in patients with end-stage renal disease, and on reducing AVF failures, there is increasing interest in ultrasound for the preoperative evaluation of the mechanical and elastic properties of ar...

A seven-month-old infant presented with a generalized seizure. The radiological evaluation revealed a large arteriovenous fistula in the left sylvian region. The fistula connected the left middle cerebral artery and the vein of Trolard. A giant varix was present at the venous end. The child underwent craniotomy, complete disconnection of the fistula and excision of the varix. Except for recurre...