Restoration of Acutely Thrombosed Arterio-Venous Fistulae by rTPA and Percutaneous Angioplasty

Percutaneous treatment of thrombosed arteriovenous fistulae using the Gelbfish-Endovac aspiration thrombectomy device

Purpose

To study the efficacy and safety of percutaneous treatment of thrombosed hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) using the Gelbfish-Endovac aspiration thrombectomy device (Gelbfish-Endovac).

Methods

From September 2003 to May 2004, twenty-nine percutaneous thrombectomy procedures were performed in 27 patients (median age of 67 years, 14 females) with thrombosed hemodialysis AVF using the Gelbfish-Endovac. Prior interventions, procedure time, anticoagulation, use of additional devices/thrombolytic agents, technical success, clinical success, complication rates, and patency at 30, 60 and 90 days were evaluated.

Results

Sixteen upper arm and 13 forearm AVF were declotted. Seventeen AVF had prior percutaneous interventions. Three AVF had not matured. Median AVF age was 9 months. Heparin was used in 14 procedures. Sixteen arterial lesions and 25 venous lesions were uncovered and treated. Two AVF required the additional use of the Arrow-Trerotola percutaneous thrombectomy device. One AVF underwent side branch ligation. No thrombolytic agents were used. Median procedure time was 70 minutes. Initial technical success was achieved in 24 AVF and clinical success was achieved in 22 AVF. Eleven complications occurred. Ten AVF remained open at 30 days, 10 at 60 days and 8 at 90 days without further interventions. With additional percutaneous interventions, 16 AVF remained open at 30 days, 16 at 60 days and 15 at 90 days.

Conclusion

The Gelbfish-Endovac aspiration thrombectomy device is safe and efficacious for percutaneous de-clotting of AVF.

Non-Surgical Salvage of Thrombosed Arterio-Venous Fistulae: A Case Series and Review of the Literature

Attempts to salvage thrombosed hemodialysis arterio-venous fistulae (AVF) using interventional techniques are not universally performed. Patients often require temporary dialysis catheters pending creation of a new vascular access. We determined the long-term outcome of interventional (non-surgical) repair of completely thrombosed AVF in 49 consecutive accesses (22 radio-cephalic, 1 radio-basilic, 19 brachio-cephalic, and 7 brachio-basilic) referred for an intervention within 48 hours of thrombosis. Subjects were 65% male (32), with mean +/- SD age 63.7 +/- 13.5 years (range 33-91), 51% African-American (25), 47% Caucasian (23) and 65% had diabetes (32). Overall, 96% (47/49) of thrombosed AVF were salvaged with complications observed in four cases (two extravasations of contrast; two radial artery emboli), with no serious long-term sequelae. Interventional procedures included 34 venous angioplasties, 11 venous angioplasties with stenting and two combined venous and arterial angioplasties. The primary and secondary patency rates for all salvaged AVF were 50.5 +/- 8.7%, 72.5 +/- 7.8% at 1 year, and 43.3 +/- 10%, 55.4 +/- 12.7% at 2 years, respectively. The median estimate to first intervention after the declot procedure was 14.7 months. The median estimate for continued function exceeded 23.1 months. There was no significant statistical difference in the primary (p = 0.73) and secondary patency rates (p = 0.057) for forearm vs. upper arm AVF. We conclude that interventional repairs should routinely be employed to salvage newly thrombosed AVF. The vast majority of these individuals can avoid receiving dialysis catheters or placement of a new dialysis vascular access.