The Role of Doppler Ultrasound in Assessment of Local Factors Affecting Maturation of Arteriovenous Fistula in Hemodialysis Patient

In recent years, the improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has led to increase the number of patients who need hemodialysis, adequacy of which depends upon the appropriately placed vascular access. Although the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the preferred vascular access for hemodialysis, there is still a high rate of failure to mature in clinical practice. To increase the use of AVFs, especially in the co-morbid patients, a thorough pre-operative evaluation and periodic monitoring after AVF creation by color doppler ultrasound (CDUS) allows placement of AVF in higher proportion of patients, and early detection of access dysfunction with subsequent intervention that reduce the rate of access failure.

Doppler ultrasound is the main imaging modality for assessment of dialysis access circuits as its gives information on the morphological criteria and evaluates the inflow and outflow flows. CDUS is non-invasive modality, of low cost, not using ionizing radiation or iodinated contrast media.