Thermography: an alternative to angiography for vascular access survey in haemodialysis.
Results obtained by thermography and angiography in surveying vascular access have been compared in 33 haemodialysis patients, including 23 with Cimino arteriovenous fistulae and 10 with homografts and heterografts. In 23 of 30 patients, blood flow stealing through collateral veins, or venous stenosis was detected by thermography and confirmed by angiography. Thermography seems a quick and simple method in routine conditions, restricting angiography to selected patients for whom a surgical revision of the fistula or of the graft is needed.
D001164:Arteriovenous Fistula / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003097:Collateral Circulation; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013817:Thermography; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging