Primary and secondary patencies of transposed femoral vein fistulas are significantly greater than with the HeRO graft.

Introduction: For access-challenged patients with bilateral upper extremity central venous stenosis, solutions include the Hemodialysis Reliable Outflow (HeRO) device or an autogenous AV fistula in the lower limb. We evaluated HeRO grafts and transpositions of the femoral vein in maintaining primary and secondary patency.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 40 patients with a HeRO device and 18 patients with superficial femoral artery to transposed femoral vein autogenous arteriovenous fistula (SFA-tFV).

First-week postoperative flow measurements are highly predictive of primary patency of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas.

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine whether volume flow rate at the first postoperative visit could predict early failure of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas (RCAVFs).

Methods: We retrospectively studied the records of 264 patients who received a RCAVF between 2007 and 2013 at our centers. Data collected included patient demographics, medical history, arterial and venous mapping, and volume flow rate intraoperatively after fistula creation but before closing the surgical incision.

A sterile elastic exsanguination tourniquet is effective in preventing blood loss during hemodialysis access surgery.

Purpose: We report the first use of a sterile elastic exsanguination tourniquet (SET) in performing hemodialysis vascular access procedures in 27 patients. The main advantages of this tourniquet are the reduction of blood loss and need for possible transfusions. Additional benefits are the near-perfect exsanguination and excellent exposure of the operative field.

An interesting clinical case: variant of the cephalic vein emptying into the internal jugular vein.

This case report describes a 45-year-old patient who was referred to our center for surgical creation of long-term vascular access. Angiographic mapping revealed the left cephalic vein draining directly into the internal jugular vein rather than the axillary vein. The patient was scheduled for an ulnar artery to cephalic vein fistula.

High incidence of perigraft seroma formation with gelatin-coated polytetrafluoroethylene grafts.

We reviewed the effectiveness of a gelatin-coated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft designed to reduce suture line bleeding and graft weeping. Twenty-nine adults with end-stage renal disease underwent implantation the graft (n = 30) in the arm. All had preoperative ultrasound vascular mapping to assess their options for an autogenous arteriovenous fistula and patients with a history of prior central venous devices or sternotomy underwent contrast venography.

Cardiovascular and renal phenotype in mice with one or two renin genes.

We compared the phenotype of two common mouse models, C-57BL/6J (C57), which carries only the Ren-1c gene, and 129/SvJ (Sv-129), with both Ren 1d and Ren-2. We hypothesized two renin gene Sv-129 would have increased blood pressure and the renin-angiotensin system would be more influential in regulating renal function compared with one renin gene mice. Sv-129 consistently had higher blood pressure than C-57, whether conscious (128 versus 108 mm Hg, P<0.