[Vascular access for hemodialysis under difficult conditions. Our experience]

Having examined the causes that lead, on the one hand, to an increased number of vascular accesses in difficult conditions and, on the other, to their reduction and having examined their personal series of vascular accesses for hemodialysis studied between 4 December 1974 to 30 September 1996, and lastly having outlined the correct protocol for the preparation of these accesses, the authors focus on vascular accesses created in difficult conditions, namely the exhaustion of the natural venous and/or arterial bed below the proximal third of the upper limb. In particular, they examine the use of definitive jugular catheters, a more recent and therefore non-standardised method, and conclude that, although not regarded as vascular accesses of first choice, they should no longer be regarded as heroic but, after a short period of learning, they are easy to position and maintain.