Clinical usefulness of doppler ultrasonography before percutaneous transluminal angioplasty immature native arteriovenous fistula

To report the clinical efficacy of preprocedural doppler ultrasound examination for the treatment of immature arteriovenous fistula by means of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and the efficacy of PTA about its treatment. From November 2008 to May 2013, 28 patients who were diagnosed with immature arteriovenous fistula using doppler ultrasound examination and obtained successful maturation of it after PTA were included in this study. A retrospective comparative analysis was performed according to the findings between doppler ultrasound examination and fistulography during the procedure. The success rate of PTA and patency of fistula were evaluated in each patient Doppler ultrasound examination revealed stenosis in twenty three patients and thrombotic total occlusion in five patients. Stenosis was located in the proximal cephalic vein 2 cm from the anastomosis in 67.8% (19/28). In the five cases of thrombotic total occlusion, the lesions were long lesions from the anastomosis to the entire proximal cephalic vein at the elbow joint level. Fistulography revealed 5 patients with thrombotic total occlusion and 24 stenosis sites in 23 patients, respectively. The location and characteristics of all lesions were consistent on doppler ultrasound examination. Only four cases were observed as non-thrombotic total occlusion on fistulography, which had more than 90% stenosis on doppler ultrasound examination. The initial success rate of PTA for immature arteriovenous fistula was 96.4% (27/28). In three patients, clinical success was obtained after four times of additional PTA. Six additional PTAs were performed during follow-up, no complications related to the procedures were found. The primary patency rate was 92.9% at 3 months, 60.7% at 6 months and 39.3% at 12 months. The estimated mean survival of arteriovenous fistula was 347.9 days and the estimated median survival was 232 days. Also, the 12 months primary patency rates between the stenosis group and occlusion group showed no significant statistical difference. Assessment of immature arteriovenous fistula using doppler ultrasound examination is a very useful method that can replace diagnostic fistulography. Also, PTA of immature arteriovenous fistula is considered an effective initial treatment for inducing successful growth maturation.