Preoperative assessment and planning of haemodialysis vascular access

Effective haemodialysis (HD) requires a reliable vascular access (VA). Clinical practice guidelines strongly recommend the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) as the preferred VA in HD patients. The creation of an AVF should be promoted in all eligible patients who choose HD, as it improves outcomes and reduces costs when compared with central venous catheters. Fistula eligibility is a 'work in progress'. Three steps in order to increase the pool of eligible patients can be individualized: (i) process of care, which includes three fundamental items: the VA team, early VA education and timely VA surgery referral; (ii) preoperative evaluation; (iii) surgical strategy. Nephrologists should be able to play a leading and coordinating role of the VA team. They should design a plan that identifies a sequence of options that can be used to provide adequate renal replacement therapy throughout the life span of every end-stage renal disease patient. The main points of this strategy are (i) early vascular education, in which a 'save the vein program' should always be implemented; (ii) timely VA surgery referral and preoperative evaluation: careful examination of arterial and venous beds is mandatory before VA placement; physical examination in addition to colour Doppler ultrasound mapping improves AVF outcomes; (iii) surgical strategy: a successful VA strategy must take into account vascular anatomy, clinical factors and prognosis.