Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Medicine/Division of Nephrology, Nashville, Tennessee, and Maine Medical Center, Department of Medicine/Division of Nephrology, Portland, Maine, USA

Correspondence: Raymond M. Hakim, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Renal Care Group, Inc., 2100 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nachville, TN 37203, USA

Received 20 January 1998; Revised 11 February 1998; Accepted 11 February 1998.

Abstract

Hemodialysis access failure: A call to action. Recent evidence suggests that the cost as well as the morbidity associated with the maintenance of hemodialysis access is increasing rapidly; currently, the cost exceeds 1 billion dollars and access related hospitalization accounts for 25% of all hospital admissions in the U.S.A. This increase in cost and morbidity has been associated with several epidemiological trends that may contribute to access failure. These include late patient referral to nephrologists and surgeons, late planning of vascular access as well as a shift from A-V fistulaes to PTFE grafts and temporary catheters, which have a higher failure rate. The reasons for this shift in the types of access is multifactorial and is not explained by changes in the co-morbidities of patients presenting to dialysis. Surgical preference and training also appear to play an important role in the large regional variation and patency rate of these PTFE grafts. We propose a program for early placement of A-V fistulae, a continuous quality improvement, multidisciplinary program to monitor access outcome, the development of new biomaterials, and a research plan to investigate pharmacological intervention to reduce development of stenosis and clinical interventions to treat those that do develop, prior to thrombosis.