The arm as an alternative site for vascular access for dialysis in patients with recurrent access failure

Patients with chronic renal failure requiring dialysis and in whom multiple attempts at vascular access have previously failed represent a challenge to vascular surgeons. In these difficult patients the arm offers an excellent site for either an autogenous fistula or a prosthetic shunt because of the relatively unharmed portion of the upper cephalic vein or the protected location of the brachial vein in most individuals. (The anatomic region of the arm by definition is the area between the shoulder and the elbow.) Over the last two years we have studied 15 patients with a mean of 2.5 previously failed shunts or fistulas who subsequently had vascular access procedures in the arm, with the brachial artery as the inflow and the cephalic vein or brachial vein as the outflow. The first choice was the cephalic vein transposition to the brachial artery because it involved only one anastomosis and is autogenous vein. The alternative was a prosthetic graft of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTEE) between the brachial artery and the cephalic vein or brachial vein in the arm. The patency rate of these arm access procedures has been 75%. None of these patients had had congestive heart failure, distal ischemia, or excessive hematoma formation. The arm represents an excellent source for fistula or shunt construction in those difficult patients in whom previous vascular access sites have already failed.