Purpose: To describe the benefits and the disadvantages of angioplasty in dialysis fistulas using only ultrasound guidance.
Materials and methods: This is a prospective study in 132 failing or non-maturing arteriovenous accesses that underwent 189 ultrasound-guided balloon angioplasties. The technical success was defined as non-use of X-ray fluoroscopy during the procedure.
Results: 127 procedures (67%) were successfully completed without fluoroscopy. Most failures were due to difficulty to traverse aneurismal segments, as well as anastomotic stenoses. Including initial failures, the primary patency rates at 6, 12 months and 2 years were 75 ± 3, 41 ± 3 and 14 ± 2%, respectively.
Conclusion: Endovascular repair of the dysfunctional vascular access for haemodialysis under ultrasound guidance is feasible and safe in roughly two-thirds of cases.
Keywords: Angioplasty; Fluoroscopy; Ultrasound; Vascular access.