Hypercoagulability: a cause of vascular access failure

In a group of 58 patients requiring tertiary vascular access procedures for maintenance of hemodialysis, 29 patients who thrombosed well-functioning fistulas were evaluated for both antithrombin deficiencies as well as platelet hyperaggreability. Thirteen of these 29 patients were found to have one or more coagulation defects. Following correction of the hypercoagulable state, tertiary vascular access procedures, using autologous tissues, were 100% successful in these 13 patients.