Hemodialysis.com | Hemodialysis Fistulas - Secondary Interventions to Improve Patency : Drs. de Smet & Ayez
Author Interview: Drs. André de Smet MD PhD and Ninos Ayez MD
Publication: Author Interview: Drs. André de Smet MD PhD and Ninos Ayez MD
Secondary interventions in patients with autologous arteriovenous fistulas strongly improve patency rates.
Ayez N, Fioole B, Aarts RA, Dorpel MA, Akkersdijk GP, Dinkelman MK, de Smet AA.
Department of Vascular Surgery, Maasstad Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
J Vasc Surg. 2011 Aug 11
What are the main findings of the study?
The aim of this study was to evaluate the results after secondary interventions in patients with an upper extremity arteriovenous fistula.
The 1-year primary patency rates of arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) are poor. To improve these results several secondary interventions can be performed.
We found that due to mostly endovascular secondary interventions, 2-year primary assisted and secondary patency rates of more than 70% can be obtained.
Were any of the findings unexpected?
We didn’t expect that the arteriovenous fistulas performed so well after secondary interventions.
We expected that some patients received more interventions, but that the outcome after several interventions would be poor.
Unexpected was the fact that patients received up to eleven interventions, with a still functioning hemodialysis access.
What should clinicians and patients take away from this study?
We observed a disappointing primary patency rate in patients with an autologous AVF, probably due to very liberal selection criteria and substantial patient comorbidity.
Since fistulas in these patients are more prone to failure, clinicians should try to make more effort to preserve hemodialysis accesses, in stead of moving on to other site for hemodialysis access placement. Our results demonstrate good secondary patency rates.
Patients should keep in mind that although interventions might give them some discomfort in means of spending time in the hospital, eventually they will have a higher patency rate of the hemodialysis access. After all, what matters most is that they have a functioning access for hemodialysis.
What recommendations do you have for nephrology health care providers as a result of your study?
To improve outcome, one can perform aggressive surveillance with early secondary interventions.
The KDOQI guidelines recommends surveillance and early intervention.
Some authors provided evidence that active surveillance and pre-emptive repair of a subclinical stenosis reduce the thrombosis rate and prolong the functional life of mature forearm AVFs.
Some others point out that it should also be recognized that unnecessary interventions of a stable or slowly growing stenotic lesion may impair access survival. Whether prospective monitoring and surveillance can prolong access survival seems yet unproven.
Authors that have implemented a new monitoring and surveillance protocol outlined in a bimonthly multidisciplinary meeting, resulted in more effective logistics, and a significant increase in PTA and significant decrease in surgical revision, resulting in less patient morbidity.
It fosters the ability to salvage vascular access sites through planning, coordination of effort, and elective corrective intervention, rather than urgent procedures or replacement. However, too early and aggressive intervention may not be cost-effective if the numbers of procedures increases disproportionately.
We recommend nephrology health care providers to participate in multidisciplinary meetings including vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists and hemodialysis nursing staff. Our study shows that the combination of surveillance, multidisciplinary meetings and subsequently early interventions prolong the lifespan of an functional arteriovenous fistula significantly.
Abstract:
BACKGROUND:
Nowadays, as a result of more liberal selection criteria, dialysis-dependent patients have become substantially older, more likely to be female and diabetic, and have more comorbidity. The 1-year primary patency rates of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are poor. To improve these results, several secondary interventions can be performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results after secondary interventions in patients with an upper extremity AVF.
METHODS:
Between January 2000 and December 2008, all consecutive patients who underwent construction of an autologous upper extremity AVF were included. Patient characteristics were collected retrospectively from digital patient files and a prospectively recorded database on hemodialysis patients.
RESULTS:
Between January 2000 and December 2008, 736 hemodialysis access procedures were performed. A total of 347 autologous arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) were created in 294 patients. The mean age was 62.1 ± 14.7 years, and the majority (66%) of the patients was male. Mean follow-up of all 347 fistulas was 21.9 ± 21.6 months. During follow-up, failure occurred in 209 (60%) of the AVFs. A total of 133 of these failures were followed by a secondary intervention, of which 78 (59%) were endovascular interventions. Twenty-nine patients developed a third failure, and 25 of these patients underwent another intervention, of which 22 were percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for stenosis. Fifteen patients developed a fourth failure, and all of them underwent an intervention. One patient had 11 interventions. The 1- and 2-year primary patency rates were 46% and 36.8%, respectively. The 1- and 2-year primary assisted patency rates were 74.6% and 71.2%, respectively. The 1- and 2-year secondary patency rates were 79.2% and 77.8%, respectively.
CONCLUSION:
The primary patency rate of AVFs is disappointing. However, due to mostly endovascular secondary interventions, 2-year primary assisted and secondary patency rates of more than 70% can be obtained.
Home Dialysis Summit Recommends Policy Changes to Increase Home Dialysis Usage
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire -- On the heels of the first National Summit on Home Dialysis Policy, Summit organizers released a report reflecting the views of the delegates -- leaders in the kidney disease patient, clinician, facility and industry communities -- on federal policy steps to improve utilization of home dialysis for patients who can benefit from this often advantageous form of treatment. Many of the organizers also announced they have formed a new alliance, called the Alliance for Home Dialysis, to advance the recommendations identified at the Summit.
The Summit's "Report of the Delegates" highlights key findings from a March 29th meeting in Washington, DC where experts probed why, despite widely accepted and well-documented benefits of home dialysis -- improved outcomes, enhanced patient satisfaction, improved quality of life, and lower costs-- fewer than ten percent of the more than 390,000 current U.S. dialysis patients receive treatment at home. Current rates of home dialysis utilization reflect a steep decline from the 1970s, when almost 40% of U.S. dialysis patients were treated in-home.
Specifically, delegates found that policymakers should work with stakeholders in the dialysis community to confront three areas:
Accessibility: Patients and clinicians face array of hurdles in education, training, and infrastructure that hinder equalized access to home dialysis.
Accountability: Utilization of home dialysis can be improved through measures within government programs that are designed to recognize and support excellence in the delivery of home dialysis services.
Aligning Incentives: Reimbursement policies, regulation of new technologies and other policy incentives can be realigned to better support federal policy goals of expanding access to home dialysis.
The Report includes 15 recommendations to serve these goals, including that federal policymakers should:
Maintain parity for home and in-center dialysis in Medicare reimbursement;
Support home dialysis mentoring programs, particularly those that use existing patients as mentors; and
Align federal and state regulatory requirements for home therapies, such as revising the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Conditions for Coverage requirements, to reflect differences in home and in-center dialysis.
Summit supporters will begin work through the new Alliance to dialogue with federal policymakers and advance policy improvements in the three consensus areas that emerged at the Summit.
SOURCE National Summit on Home Dialysis Policy
National Kidney Foundation's Top 10 Things Every Dialysis Patient Should Know.
You have treatment choices. Options exist for how, where and when you dialyze. Dialysis can be done in a hospital, in a dialysis unit that is not part of a hospital, or at home. You and your doctor will decide which place is best, based on your medical condition and your wishes. There are different types of dialysis - peritoneal and hemodialysis. Work with your health care team to determine a treatment plan that makes you feel comfortable. Recent studies show that the majority of patients beginning in-center hemodialysis (HD) know very little, if anything, about the option to dialyze at home. Once informed, 40% or more of patients are interested in this treatment option, and yet less than 10% actually begin home dialysis. If you're dissatisfied with the type of dialysis treatment that you're receiving, ask your healthcare team if another type of dialysis treatment would be better.
You can compare in-center dialysis facilities online. Information on over 5,600 US-based dialysis centers is available online through the Medicare website. To help you make choices about your care, you can compare different facilities side-by-side and evaluate each facility based upon clinic characteristics and quality measures. You can search for dialysis facilities by name or geographic proximity. After completing an initial facility comparison to determine which facilities best meet your needs - such as the number of hemodialysis stations at a particular location and whether there are evening shifts available - visit the facilities that you're most interested in. Talk to the staff and other patients, as well as your doctor to ensure that this dialysis facility is a good fit for you.
There are ways to prepare ahead for an emergency. Ask your dialysis facility about their emergency plan in case of a snow storm, fire, power outage or other natural disaster. As back up, make sure you have the names, locations and phone numbers of other dialysis units and hospitals in your area. Since regular community transportation services may not be working in an emergency, be prepared to make other arrangements for getting to dialysis. You may need to contact the police and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for assistance. If you dialyze at home, make sure you have at least two weeks' worth of unexpired supplies on hand. If you have to miss a dialysis treatment, begin your emergency meal plan.
There is an easy way to transfer patient records between clinics. There is an easy, secure way for your health care team to transfer your treatment records online. In 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created a centralized web-based data collection system called CROWNWeb to help reduce and eliminate patient treatment interruptions. This central system helps to streamline patient care regardless of the reason for changing dialysis centers. For example, if you've been admitted to the hospital, or if you needed to relocate during an emergency evacuation, your doctors and health care team can access up-to-date information about your dialysis so that you continue to receive appropriate care no matter where you are.
You can travel while on dialysis.
Dialysis centers are located in every part of the United States and in many foreign countries. The treatment is standardized, but you need to plan ahead by making an appointment for dialysis at another center before you go. The staff at your center may help you make these appointments.
You can be your own best advocate. Know what key questions to ask your doctor or other healthcare professionals. Take notes so that you can refer back to them later. Partner with your doctor and decide on a treatment plan together. Advocate for yourself and share how you're feeling.
You have many rights. You as a patient have a great deal of control over your treatments. Patients have a bill of rights which includes receiving quality care, counseling about your medical information, and an expectation of privacy.
You also have responsibilities. Once you decide on a course of treatment, it's important to follow the recommendations of your health care team. If you decide to receive in-center dialysis, arrive at dialysis on time so that you can receive the full treatment without delays.
You can receive insurance coverage. If you have end stage renal failure, you are likely eligible for Medicare insurance coverage. Speak with your health care team and social worker for help filling out insurance paperwork.
You may need to follow a special diet. When your kidneys are not working properly, you may not be able to eat everything you like, and you may need to limit how much you drink. Your diet may vary according to the type of dialysis you receive. It is important to speak with a renal dietitian so that you are able to understand what you can and cannot eat based on your full health history.
Dialysis patients can work. Many dialysis patients can go back to work or school after they have gotten used to dialysis. After establishing a dialysis routine, many patients have more energy and find that they are able to time to work around this new schedule. Some patients even find creative ways to work remotely from dialysis with the use of a laptop or cell phone, depending on their field of expertise.
New Book to Help Educate Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease who may be facing Dialysis or Hemodialysis:
Help, I Need Dialysis! How to have a good future with kidney disease
By Dori Schatell, MS and Dr. John Agar
An internationally known nephrologist and life-long kidney patient educator explain how dialysis works, each of the ways to do it, and how your treatment choice may affect your diet, energy level, work, travel, sexuality and fertility, sleep, and survival. Comprehensive and fully referenced, this book is a must-read if you face the life-changing choices that come with kidney failure.
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