• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.25-31
• /
• 2011

Background: Mature autogenous arteriovenous fistulas have better long term patency and require fewer secondary interventions compared to arteriovenous prosthetic graft. Our Study evaluated vascular patency rates and incidence of interventions in autogenous arteriovenous fistulas and grafts. Material and Methods: A total of 166 vascular access operations were performed in 153 patients between December 2002 and November 2009. Thirty seven caeses were excluded due to primary access failure and loss of follow-up. One group of 92 autogenous arterioveous fistulas and the other group of 37 arteriovenous prosthetic grafts were evaluated retrospectively. Primary and secondary patency rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The primary patency rate (84%, 67%, 51% vs. 51%, 22%, 9% at 1, 3, 5 year; p=0.0000) and secondary patency rate (96%, 88%, 68% vs. 88%, 65%, 16% at 1, 3, 5 year; p=0.0009) were better in autogenous fistula group than prosthetic graft group. Interventions to maintain secondary patency were required in 23% of the autogenous fistula group (average 0.06 procedures/patient/year) and 65% of prosthetic graft group (average 0.21 procedures/patient/year). So the autogenous fistula group had fewer intervention rate than prosthetic graft group (p=0.01) The risk factor of primary patency was diabetus combined with ischemic heart disease and the secondary patency's risk factor was age. Conclusion: Autogenous arteriovenous fistulas showed better performance compared to prosthetic grafts in terms of primary & secondary patency and incidence of interventions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.53 no.2
• /
• pp.73-78
• /
• 2020

Background: As the population of patients with end-stage renal disease has grown older, the proportion of patients with poorly preserved vasculature has concomitantly increased. Thus, arteriovenous grafts (AVG) have been used more frequently to access blood vessels for hemodialysis. Despite this increasing demand, studies of AVG are limited. In this study, we examined the surgical outcomes of upper-limb AVG creation. Methods: Among the arteriovenous fistula formation procedures performed between January 2014 and March 2019 at Dankook University Hospital, 42 cases involved AVG creation. We compared patients in whom the axillary vein was used (group A; brachioaxillary AVG [B-Ax AVG]; n=20) with those in whom upper limb veins were used (group B; brachiobasilic AVG or brachioantecubital AVG; n=22). Results: The 1-year primary patency rate was higher in group A than in group B (57.9% vs. 41.7%; p=0.262). The incidence of postoperative complications was not significantly different between groups. Conclusion: AVG using the axillary vein showed no major differences in safety or functionality compared to AVG using other veins. Therefore, accounting for age, underlying disease, and expected patient lifespan, B-Ax AVG can be considered an acceptable surgical method.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.642-647
• /
• 2010

Background: It is very important to obtain vascular access that resists repeated punctures and maintains an adequate blood flow for performing hemodialysis in patients with ESRD. This study was designed to identify the risk factors that may influence the patency rate of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) using perforating vein on antecubital fossa. Material and Method: We analyzed 205 cases of AVF in 195 patients who underwent hemodialysis access surgery on antecubital fossa in our hospital from May 2006 to December 2009. Result: The patency rate of AVF from 6 months after surgery using perforating vein was 75.91%. The risk factors that influence the patency rate was age. There was no statistic difference between used vessels. Conclusion: The patency of the AVF using perforating vein on antecubital fossa was comparable. The condition of sex and location and presence or absence of diabetes and hypertension and other cardio-neurovascular disease did not make statistically significant effect on the AVF patency rate. The age was an independent risk factor for patency rate.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.122-129
• /
• 2018

Background: For hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), it is important to construct an efficient vascular access with a superior patency rate. This study investigated the factors influencing the efficiency of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) constructed using an autologous vessel and evaluated the necessity of ultrasonography as a preoperative tool for AVF construction. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of 250 patients in whom an AVF was constructed using an autologous vessel due to ESRD at our institution from January 2009 to April 2016. Results: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year patency rates for all subjects were 87.6%, 85.6%, and 84.4%, respectively. The patients who underwent a preoperative evaluation of their vessels via ultrasonography had better patency rates than those who did not. Superior patency rates were found in patients under 65 years of age or with an anastomotic vein diameter of 3 mm or more. The 1-year patency rate and the diameter of the anastomotic vein showed a positive relationship. Conclusion: Ultrasonography is strongly recommended for AVF construction, and efforts should be made to increase the patency rate in patients over 65. Superior clinical results can be expected when an AVF is made using an autologous vessel with an anastomotic vein diameter of at least 3 mm.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.120-125
• /
• 2015

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a Fogarty arterial embolectomy catheter (Fogarty catheter) in intraoperative balloon angioplasty of the cephalic vein, in order to determine its effect on the patency of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) created for hemodialysis access. Methods: A total of 156 patients who underwent creation of an AVF were divided into two groups, based whether a Fogarty catheter was used during AVF creation. Group A (89 patients) comprised the patients who underwent balloon angioplasty with a Fogarty catheter during the operation. Group B (67 patients) included the patients in whom a Fogarty catheter was not used during the operation. Patient records were reviewed retrospectively and documented. The patency rate was determined by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The records of 156 patients who underwent the creation of an AVF from January 2007 to October 2011 were included. The mean follow-up duration was $40.2{\pm}19.4$ months (range, 1 to 97 months). The patency rates in group A at 12, 36, and 72 months were $83.9%{\pm}3.9%$, $78.3%{\pm}4.6%$, and $76.3%{\pm}4.9%$, respectively, while the corresponding patency rates in group B were $92.5%{\pm}3.2%$, $82.8%{\pm}0.5%$, and $79.9%{\pm}5.7%$, respectively. The patency rates in group B were found to be slightly higher than those in group A, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.356). Conclusion: Intraoperative balloon angioplasty of the cephalic vein using the Fogarty catheter is a simple and easily reproducible procedure, and it can be helpful in increasing AVF patency in cases of insufficient runoff or a suboptimal cephalic vein.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.23 no.10
• /
• pp.949-958
• /
• 2022

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of using a deep learning-based analysis of auscultation data to predict significant stenosis of arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) in patients undergoing hemodialysis requiring percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Materials and Methods: Forty patients (24 male and 16 female; median age, 62.5 years) with dysfunctional native AVF were prospectively recruited. Digital sounds from the AVF shunt were recorded using a wireless electronic stethoscope before (pre-PTA) and after PTA (post-PTA), and the audio files were subsequently converted to mel spectrograms, which were used to construct various deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) models (DenseNet201, EfficientNetB5, and ResNet50). The performance of these models for diagnosing ≥ 50% AVF stenosis was assessed and compared. The ground truth for the presence of ≥ 50% AVF stenosis was obtained using digital subtraction angiography. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) was used to produce visual explanations for DCNN model decisions. Results: Eighty audio files were obtained from the 40 recruited patients and pooled for the study. Mel spectrograms of "pre-PTA" shunt sounds showed patterns corresponding to abnormal high-pitched bruits with systolic accentuation observed in patients with stenotic AVF. The ResNet50 and EfficientNetB5 models yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.99 and 0.98, respectively, at optimized epochs for predicting ≥ 50% AVF stenosis. However, Grad-CAM heatmaps revealed that only ResNet50 highlighted areas relevant to AVF stenosis in the mel spectrogram. Conclusion: Mel spectrogram-based DCNN models, particularly ResNet50, successfully predicted the presence of significant AVF stenosis requiring PTA in this feasibility study and may potentially be used in AVF surveillance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.84 no.1
• /
• pp.197-211
• /
• 2023

Purpose To evaluate the circuit patency after nitinol bare-metal stent (BMS) placement according to the type of access and location of the stent in dysfunctional hemodialysis access. Materials and Methods Between January 2017 and December 2019, 159 patients (mean age, 64.1 ± 13.2 years) underwent nitinol BMS placement for dysfunctional access. The location of stents was as follows: 18 brachiocephalic vein, 51 cephalic arch, 40 upper arm vein, 10 juxta-anastomotic vein, 7 arteriovenous (AV) anastomosis, and 33 graft-vein (GV) anastomosis. Circuit patency was evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and cox regression model. Results A total of 159 stents were successfully deployed in 103 AV fistula (AVF) and 56 AV graft (AVG). AVG showed lower primary and secondary patency at 12-months compared with AVF (primary patency; 25.0% vs. 44.7%; p = 0.005, secondary patency; 76.8% vs. 92.2%; p = 0.014). Cox regression model demonstrated poorer primary patency at 12 months after stenting in the cephalic arch and GV anastomosis compared with the other sites. Conclusion AVF showed better primary and secondary circuit patency at 12 months following the placement of BMS compared with AVG. Stents in the cephalic arch and GV anastomosis were associated with poorer primary patency at 12 months compared to those in other locations.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.28-33
• /
• 2020

Background: When an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is created using the basilic or deep cephalic vein, it is additionally necessary to transfer the vessels to a position where needling is easy; however, many patients develop wound-related postsurgical complications due to the long surgical wounds resulting from conventional superficialization of a deep AVF or basilic vein transposition. Thus, to address this problem, we performed videoscopic surgery with small surgical incisions. Methods: Data from 16 patients who underwent additional videoscopic radiocephalic superficialization, brachiocephalic superficialization, and brachiobasilic transposition after AVF formation at our institution in 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Needling was successful in all patients. No wound-related complications occurred. The mean vessel size and blood flow of the AVF just before the first needling were 0.73±0.16 mm and 1,516.25±791.26 mL/min, respectively. The mean vessel depth after surgery was 0.26±0.10 cm. Percutaneous angioplasty was additionally performed in 25% of the patients. Primary patency was observed in 100% of patients during the follow-up period (262.44±73.49 days). Conclusion: Videoscopic surgery for AVF dramatically reduced the incidence of postoperative complications without interrupting patency; moreover, such procedures may increase the use of native vessels for vascular access. In addition, dissection using a videoscope compared to blind dissection using only a skip incision dramatically increased the success rate of displacement by reducing damage to the dissected vessels.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.380-382
• /
• 2010

The authors present an extremely rare case of a pseudoaneurysm of the ulnar artery as a complication of a two-portal endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR). A 70-year-old man with chronic renal failure and on maintenance hemodialysis with a left arteriovenous fistula presented with paresthesia of his right hand. A clinical diagnosis of right carpal tunnel syndrome was confirmed by ultrasonography and an electro physiologic study. He underwent two-portal ECTR, and the paresthesia was much improved. However, he presented to us one month after operation with severe pain, a tender mass distal to the right wrist crease and more aggravation of the paresthesia in the ulnar nerve distribution. Doppler ultrasound was performed and revealed a hypo echoic lesion 20 mm in diameter in the right palm, with arterial Doppler flow inside connected to the palmar segment of the ulnar artery. An ulnar artery pseudoaneurysm was diagnosed and treated by ultrasound-guided percutaneous thrombin injection. Transverse color Doppler ultrasound image showed complete thrombosis of the pseudoaneurysm and flow cessation after a total injection of 500 units of thrombin. The symptoms were also improved.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.81 no.2
• /
• pp.409-417
• /
• 2020

Purpose To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the percutaneous manual aspiration thrombectomy technique to treat thrombotic occlusion of native arteriovenous fistulas. Materials and Methods A retrospective review of 20 patients who underwent percutaneous manual aspiration thrombectomy for native thrombotic arteriovenous fistula occlusion from March 2012 to December 2017 was performed. We evaluated technical and clinical success rates and complications. The primary and secondary patency rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results Percutaneous manual aspiration thrombectomy was performed in 20 patients (n = 20) with concomitant balloon angioplasty. The overall technical and clinical success rates were both 85% (n = 17). The native arteriovenous fistulas, based on their site, were the left radiocephalic (n = 13), left brachiocephalic (n = 4), and right radiocephalic (n = 3) fistulas. An underlying stenosis was detected in the juxta-anastomotic venous site (n = 16), outflow draining vein (n = 12), and central vein (n = 4). The primary and secondary patency rates at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months were 100%, 70.6%, 70.6%, and 56.5% and 100%, 94.1%, 94.1%, and 86.9%, respectively. There were no complications associated with procedure. Conclusion Percutaneous manual aspiration thrombectomy is a safe and effective method to treat thrombotic native arteriovenous fistula occlusion.