Safety and Efficacy of Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloon Angioplasty for Dysfunctional Hemodialysis Access: A randomized trial Comparing with Angioplasty Alone.

Purpose: To assess whether angioplasty of hemodialysis access (HA) stenosis with a drug-coated balloon (DCB) would prevent restenosis in comparison with plain-balloon percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA).

Materials And Methods: This prospective randomized clinical trial enrolled 120 patients with dysfunctional arteriovenous fistulae (n = 109) and grafts (n = 11), due to a ≥50% stenosis between March 2014 and April 2018. All patients underwent high-pressure balloon angioplasty and were then randomized to either DCB (n = 60) or PTA (n = 60).

Preliminary evaluation of a new index to predict the outcome of a spontaneous breathing trial.

Background: The available predictors of spontaneous-breathing-trial (SBT) success/failure lack accuracy. We devised a new index, the CORE index (compliance, oxygenation, respiration, and effort).

Objective: To compare the CORE index to the CROP index (compliance, rate, oxygenation, and pressure), airway-occlusion pressure 0.