THE BLOOD FLOW RATE ON THE FIRST DAY AFTER ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULA CREATION IS A PREDICTOR OF SUCCESSFUL FISTULA MATURATION.

BACKGROUND
The determination of blood flow rate (BFR) is a useful tool for assessing the function of arteriovenous fistula (AVF).


METHODS
Eighty patients with a newly created radio cephalic AVF were analyzed. Hemodynamics and morphological characteristics of the blood vessels were assessed by Doppler ultrasound.


RESULTS
The mean age of patients was 59.9±13.5 years. A successful rate of AVF maturation was 62.5% at 8 weeks. Six adjusted models of multivariate analysis showed that BFR at day 1 was a predictor for AVF maturation both at 4 weeks (p<0.001) and 8 weeks (p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an optimal cut-off point for BFR at day 1 of 395 mL/min for successful maturation at 4 weeks (sensitivity 0.714, specificity 0.889) and 344 mL/min for successful maturation at 8 weeks (sensitivity 0.860, specificity 0.867).


CONCLUSION
BFR at day 1 is a powerful predictor for successful AVF maturation at 4 and 8 weeks. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.