OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the fistulographic features of malfunctioning axillary loop-configured arteriovenous grafts and the efficacy of percutaneous interventions in failed axillary loop-configured arteriovenous grafts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten patients with axillary loop-configured arteriovenous grafts were referred for evaluation of graft patency or upper arm swelling. Fistulography and percutaneous intervention, including thrombolysis, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stent placement, were performed. Statistical analysis of the procedure success rate and the primary and secondary patency rates was done. RESULTS: Four patients had graft related and subclavian venous stenosis, two patients had graft related stenosis and another four patients had subclavian venous stenosis only. Sixteen sessions of interventional procedures were performed in eight patients (average: 2 sessions / patient) until the end of follow-up. An interventional procedure was not done in two patients with central venous stenosis. The overall procedure success rate was 69% (11 of 16 sessions). The post-intervention primary and secondary patency rates were 50% and 63% at three months, 38% and 63% at six months and 25% and 63% at one year, respectively. CONCLUSION: Dysfunctional axillary loop-configured arteriovenous grafts almost always had subclavian venous and graft-related stenosis. Interventional treatments are helpful to overcome this and these treatments are expected to play a major role in restoring and maintaining the axillary loop-configured arteriovenous loop grafts.
Adult ; Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon/*methods ; Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical/*methods ; Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation/*methods ; Chronic Disease ; Constriction, Pathologic/therapy/ultrasonography ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Occlusion, Vascular/*therapy/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/*complications/therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Renal Dialysis ; Subclavian Vein/ultrasonography ; Survival Analysis ; Treatment Outcome ; Vascular Patency

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the association between poststenting atherosclerotic plaque redistribution/lumen reduction at the stent edge and stent length.

METHODSSeventy stents were implanted to 47 patients with stable or unstable angina and 33 stents were < or = 18 mm and 37 stents were > 18 mm. Intravascular ultrasound analysis was performed on proximal stent edge, stent area and distal stent edge. Lumen area (LA) and vascular area (VA) were measured and lumen volume (LV) and vascular volume (VV) were calculated on the three segments. Vascular wall volume (WV) was calculated as VV-LV, volume of plaque redistribution = poststenting WV-prestenting WV.

RESULTSCompared to prestenting, poststenting LV significantly decreased, VV remained unchanged and WV significantly increased at proximal and distal edges of < or = 18 mm group and at proximal edge of > 18 mm group, suggesting reduced lumen due to plaque distribution. At distal edge of > 18 mm group, poststenting LV, VV and WV all equally significantly increased therefore the lumen was not affected by plaque distribution.

CONCLUSIONThe poststenting lumen changes due to plaque redistribution were associated with stent length, lumen reduced at proximal and distal edge of short stents and proximal edge of long stents but not at the distal edge of long stents.

Adult ; Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Atherosclerosis ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Coronary Restenosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Coronary Vessels ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Graft Occlusion, Vascular ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stents ; Ultrasonography, Interventional

OBJECTIVE: The current study retrospectively evaluated whether the percutaneous N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA) seal-off technique is an effective treatment for controlling the angioplasty-related ruptures, which are irresponsive to prolonged balloon tamponade, during interventions for failed or failing hemodialysis vascular accesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 1588 interventions performed during a 2-year period for dysfunction and/or failed hemodialysis vascular access sites in 1569 patients. For the angioplasty-related ruptures, which could not be controlled with repeated prolonged balloon tamponade, the rupture sites were sealed off with an injection of a glue mixture (NBCA and lipiodol), via a needle/needle sheath to the rupture site, under a sonographic guidance. Technical success rate, complications and clinical success rate were reported. The post-seal-off primary and secondary functional patency rates were calculated by a survival analysis with the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Twenty ruptures irresponsive to prolonged balloon tamponade occurred in 1588 interventions (1.3%). Two technical failures were noted; one was salvaged with a bailout stent-graft insertion and the other was lost after access embolization. Eighteen accesses (90.0%) were salvaged with the seal-off technique; of them, 16 ruptures were completely sealed off, and two lesions were controlled as acute pseudoaneurysms. Acute pseudoaneurysms were corrected with stentgraft insertion in one patient, and access ligation in the other. The most significant complication during the follow-up was delayed pseudoaneurysm, which occurred in 43.8% (7 of 16) of the completely sealed off accesses. Delayed pseudoaneurysms were treated with surgical revision (n = 2), access ligation (n = 2) and observation (n = 3). During the follow-up, despite the presence of pseudoaneurysms (acute = 1, delayed = 7), a high clinical success rate of 94.4% (17 of 18) was achieved, and they were utilized for hemodialysis at the mean of 411.0 days. The post-seal-off primary patency vs. secondary patency at 90, 180 and 360 days were 66.7 +/- 11.1% vs. 94.4 +/- 5.4%; 33.3 +/- 11.1% vs. 83.3 +/- 8.8%; and 13.3 +/- 8.5% vs. 63.3 +/- 12.1%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the NBCA seal-off technique is effective for immediate control of a venous rupture irresponsive to prolonged balloon tamponade, during interventions for hemodialysis accesses. Both high technical and clinical success rates can be achieved. However, the treatment is not durable, and about 40% of the completely sealed off accesses are associated with developed delayed pseudoaneurysms in a 2-month of follow-up. Further repair of the vascular tear site, with surgery or stent-graft insertion, is often necessary.
Aged ; Aneurysm, False/etiology/therapy ; Angioplasty, Balloon/*adverse effects ; Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical/*adverse effects ; Enbucrilate/*administration & dosage ; Ethiodized Oil/administration & dosage ; Female ; Graft Occlusion, Vascular/etiology/*therapy ; Humans ; Male ; *Renal Dialysis ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Survival Analysis ; Treatment Outcome ; Ultrasonography, Interventional ; Vascular Patency