Treatment of arteriovenous shunts after renal transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Immunosuppressive drugs have improved the results of renal transplantation dramatically in recent years; however, there is still no consensus on the treatment of arteriovenous (A-V) shunts after successful transplantation. We evaluated the treatment of A-V shunts after transplantation.


METHODS
We reviewed all patients who underwent shunt closure at our hospital between 2005 and 2007 assessing surgical methods, operative time, blood loss, and complications.


RESULTS
Fifty-two patients underwent shunt closure, as a simple transection in 5 patients, resection of the anastomotic site in 16, resection and reconstruction of the artery in 26, and graftectomy in 5. Graftectomy was associated with copious blood loss and a long operative time. The most frequent complication was phlebitis, but there were no nerve complications.


CONCLUSIONS
An A-V shunt after renal transplantation may result in an aneurysm, severe venous dilatation, pain, bloating of the arm, infection, and cardiac problems. Thus, after successful transplantation, shunt closure should be performed to prevent these complications and to improve quality of life.
Kitada
Hidehisa
H
Department of Surgery and Oncology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Sugitani
Atsushi
A
Okabe
Yasuhiro
Y
Doi
Atsushi
A
Nishioka
Yasunobu
Y
Nishiki
Takehiro
T
Kayashima
Tadashi
T
Tanabe
Reiko
R
Tanaka
Masao
M