Vascular access in patients with arterial insufficiency. Construction of proximal bridge fistulae based on inflow from axillary branch arteries.

Patients with renal failure and underlying peripheral vascular disease pose a difficult management problem in establishing long-term angioaccess for chronic hemodialysis. This report summarizes our experience with five debilitated patients who developed acute upper extremity ischemia after forearm fistula construction corrected by fistula ligation. Successful angioaccess was achieved without ischemia recurrence by construction of proximal bridge fistulae with arterial inflow based on branch arteries of the axillary artery. The relatively small size of the branch vessel was the main factor in limiting fistula flow while permitting normal distal axillary artery flow. In four patients direct fistula flow measurements ranged from 200 mL per minute to 620 mL per minute. Axillary arterial flow distal to the fistula ranged from 120 to 200 mL per minute and did not significantly change after fistula construction or during temporary occlusion of the fistula. Four of the five patients continue to dialyze uneventfully from 4 to 8.5 months. One patient died after discontinuation of dialysis 1 month after operation.