Efficacy of covered stent placement for central venous occlusive disease in hemodialysis patients.

Objectives: Covered stents have been proposed as an endovascular option for recalcitrant cases of hemodialysis-related central venous occlusive disease (CVOD). This study evaluated the efficacy and durability of covered stents in treating CVOD to preserve a functional dialysis access circuit.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all patients with clinically significant CVOD who were treated by placement of covered stents from April 2007 to September 2010. Demographics, lesion locations and anatomic characteristics, stent graft, and access patency rates were determined. Complications, reinterventions, and factors influencing their outcomes were examined.

Results: In 25 patients (56% men; mean age, 57 ± 29 years) with CVOD, covered stents were used in 20 to treat symptomatic venous hypertension or in 5 at the time of access creation to enable functionality. The target lesion was accessed via the dialysis access site or the common femoral vein. The Viabahn endoprosthesis (W. L. Gore and Associates, Flagstaff, Ariz) was used in 24 patients (average size and length, 11 mm × 5 cm) and a 13-mm × 5-cm Fluency covered stent (Bard Peripheral Vascular, Tempe, Ariz) was implanted in 1 patient. Technical success was 100%, and resolution of arm edema occurred after covered stent deployment in symptomatic patients. Two postprocedural cases (8%) of thrombosis occurred, one within 30 days and another at 3 months. Both required percutaneous thrombectomy and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Three additional patients (12%) required PTA due to restenosis in one of the ends of the device. Covered stent primary patency (PP), assisted primary patency (APP), and secondary patency (SP) were 56%, 86%, and 100% at 12 months, respectively. Access patency rates at 12 months were 29%, 85%, and 94% for PP, APP, and SP, respectively, in patients that received a covered stent for access salvage; patency rates were 74%, 85%, and 94% for PP, APP, and SP, respectively, in patients in whom the access was created after the venous outflow restoration.

Conclusions: Placement of covered stents for hemodialysis-related CVOD is safe, effective in relieving symptoms, and enabled functionality of new dialysis access circuits. Further prospective and randomized studies are necessary to determine whether covered stents provide superior long-term results to those achieved with PTA and bare metal stents.