title: Transbrachial fine-needle arteriography with special focus on haemodialysis shunt imaging.
abstract: Retrospective analysis of the complication rate of transbrachial fine-needle arteriography was made to determine whether the advantages of arterial angiograms over venous fistulograms outweigh the possible complications. We included 236 patients who had undergone 454 arterial fine-needle punctures with a 22-gauge cannula in the cubital fossa. Spasm as the only reliably detectable early complication of this retrospective study occurred with a frequency of 1.9% in dialysis patients. The only late and severe complication we found in reviewing 217 arterial follow-up angiograms was one aneurysm. We consider arterial angiogram, using the fine-needle puncture technique, as a safe method for angiographic control of haemodialysis shunts. We attribute the low complication rate of less than 0.5% to the introduction of this technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Technology Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bücker
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vorwerk
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Günther
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D001166:Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies