Prosthetic graft placement using the deep forearm veins in hemodialysis patients: a preliminary report.
When the superficial arm veins are not suitable for the creation of a conventional endogenous arteriovenous (A-V) fistula or the placement of a prosthetic graft in the forearm, the use of the deep forearm veins as an outflow system to construct an A-V graft access seems to be a reasonable alternative. Using this approach, we placed 6 prosthetic grafts in 6 hemodialysis patients in whom conventional methods had failed. Adequate functioning of this 'deep vein'-type vascular access in these 6 patients has been maintained for 3, 6, 11, 15, 19 and 24 months, respectively, without complications or any need for further interventions. Only one graft failed after 6 months. Our preliminary results indicate that this technique can be used successfully when the superficial forearm veins have been exhausted, thus avoiding the use of upper-arm or axillary veins.
Surgical Department of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
I
I
Skandalos
A
A
Chatzibaloglou
K
K
Tsalis
T
T
Tourlis
V
V
Kalpakidis
T
T
Anagnostopoulos
I
I
Dadoukis
K
K
Sombolos
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000792:Angiography; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000601:surgery; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D014680:Veins / Q000601:surgery*