title: Arteriovenous grafts have higher secondary patency in the short term compared with autologous fistulae.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To estimate patency of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) and grafts (AVGs) for dialysis access.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of all adult patients who had a dialysis access placed from January 2008 to June 2011 were retrospectively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 494 patients with 655 accesses (390 AVFs, 265 AVGs) were examined. We found that AVG fared worse in assisted primary patency. But AVG had superior secondary patency up to 1.2 years (hazard ratio [HR] .6, confidence interval [CI]: [.4 to .8]) and was no different than AVF after 1.2 years. (HR 1.6, CI: [.9 to 3.1]). On univariate analysis, dialysis catheters negatively impacted assisted primary patency (HR 1.4, CI: [1.09 to 1.77]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  AVG can be maintained with higher rates of secondary patency in the short term and are no different in the long term. This result suggests that in patients with limited life expectancy an AVG may be an effective alternative to an AVF to reduce both catheter time and associated complications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Allemang
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Investigation, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmotzer
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Virginia L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Lakin
authors.affiliation: Division of Transplant Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Woodside
authors.affiliation: Division of Transplant Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Schulak
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. Electronic address: vikram.kashyap@UHhospitals.org.
authors.forename: Vikram S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kashyap
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001166:Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene
keywords: Dialysis access; PTFE; Patency; Prosthetic graft