Brachiocephalic Arteriovenous Fistula through the Median Antecubital Vein for Hemodialysis

Abstract

Purpose: An option for patients who are unsuitable for radiocephalic fistula is brachiocephalic (BC) fistula. In such patients, we exploited the venous interconnections in the cubital fossa for median antecubital vein (MAV)-BC arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation. In this article, we describe our experience in the creation of such technical variant of the BC fistula AVF, its success, and associated complications. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of such AVF created between September 2014 and August 2015 was done. The data collected included demographics, comorbidities, basic disease, operative details, patency, complications, and mortality. Results: A total of 68 vascular access surgeries were done which included 26 (38.2%) BC AVF using the MAV. The mean cephalic vein diameter and mean flow rate were 7.18 mm and 1415 ml/min, respectively, 2 months after fistula creation. The primary and secondary failure rates were 3.87% and 7.69%, respectively. Complications included aneurysm (7.69%), edema (19.23%), hematoma (11.53%), and wound infection (2.5%). Conclusion: Using reverse flow in the MAV is a safe and simple way to perform BC AVF before brachiobasilic AVF and grafts.

Keywords

• Arteriovenous fistula
• smooth loop arteriovenous fistula
• vascular access