[The Carboclip, a new, atraumatic vascular access for hemodialysis]

The Carboclip is a no-needle vascular access device made of an inverted Titanium body. The horizontal bar of 6 mm inner diameter is connected with artery and vein via a vascular graft. The vertical body houses an elastic plug in which is inserted a double canula diving in the blood stream for extracorporeal blood circulation (EBC). The body is wrapped by a flange made of microporous biocarbon in which the subcutaneous fibroblast will growth, forming an antimicrobial barrier and fixing the port to the skin. We report our experience on 30 devices implanted in 30 sheep with 26 extracorporeal circulation simulating hemodialysis. The results demonstrate good tightness of the plug as well at rest as during EBC procedure, sufficient blood flow rate of about 400 ml/min, and benefits of the microporous carbon flange.