Ultrasonography-guided Balloon Angioplasty in an Autogenous Arteriovenous Fistula: Preliminary Results

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Percutaneous trasnluminal angioplasty (PTA) of a malfunctioning arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in hemodialysis patients requires the use of contrast angiography and fluoroscopy guidance. We attempted to perform this procedure under duplex ultrasound guidance to reduce the amount of contrast agent administered and to reduce the radiation dose during the interventional procedures. MATERIALS and METHODS: From September 2006 to February 2007, 45 patients received interventional treatment due to malfunctioning hemodialysis access in our hospital. Among the patients, we selected 10 patients diagnosed with stenosis of an autogenous arteriovenous fistula based on a physical examination. There were six males and four females aged 51-78 years (mean age, 59 years). Seven of these patients had a Brescia-Cinimo type fistula and three patients had a basilic vein transposition. All procedures were performed in the angiography suite. All procedures that required angioplasty were performed under duplex ultrasound guidance and then contrast angiography was performed to confirm the final patency of the vessels. Conventional angioplasty was also performed under fluoroscopy guidance for any lesions that required an additional angioplasty. The volume flow before and after the PTA and procedure time were recorded. Clinical success was defined as the performance of one or more successful hemodialysis sessions after treatment. RESULTS: Eight of ten patients did not require an additional angioplasty by conventional angiography after the duplex- guided angioplasty. One case showed recoiling of stenosis after the duplex-guided PTA and another case was missed at duplex scanning due to the extremely short nature of the recoiling of stenosis. The mean volume flow before and after PTA was 167 ml/min (range, 80-259 ml/min) and 394.2 ml/min (range, 120-586 ml/min), respectively. No complications associated with the duplex-guide procedure occurred. In nine cases, PTA enabled hemodialysis to be conducted more than one time. In one case, hemodialysis was not possible to perform due to an inadequate maturation of a fistula. The mean duration of the procedure was 38 minutes (range, 23-50 minutes). CONCLUSION: Duplex-guided percutaneous angioplasty of autogenous AVF stenosis in hemodialysis patients is technically feasible and can be used as an ancillary method in addition to the use of the conventional fluoroscopy- guided method.