[Arteriovenous shunt--a prerequisite for long-term hemodialysis therapy]

The authors give an account of the experience of their department with the establishment of arteriovenous fistulae during the preparation of patients for a dialyzation transplantation programme. In the course of 13 years a total of 685 a-v shunts were made. The results in 60 patients are evaluated in detail. These patients were treated in 1989 in the chronic dialyzation programme of the Ostrava dialyzation unit, focused on long-term patency of the fistulae. The cumulative patency of shunts up to one year is 83.3%, the long-term patency is 73.3%.