Stellenwert der Duplexsonographie der Brachialarterie zur Überwachung von vaskulären Zugängen bei Hämodialysepatienten

Background: Vascular access (VA) stenosis with subsequent thrombosis remains one of the major causes of morbidity and hospitalization in haemodialysis patients. The present cross-sectional study was planned in order to analyze the usefulness of brachial artery duplex ultrasound for detection and prediction of vascular access stenoses. Methods: Color duplex ultrasound (Apogee Cx 200, sectorial probe 7.5 MHz) was used to obtain the anatomical pattern of the VA and flow velocity waveforms of the brachial artery in 77 non-selected VA (47 Ciminio-Brescia fistulae and 30 PTFE grafts). In each VA, the resistance index (RI), the mean blood flow rate (Q) and the blood flow ratio index (QI) (QI = VA flow rate/contralateral flow rate) were calculated at the level of the brachial artery. The sensitivity and specificity of these brachial Doppler parameters were calculated for the detection of VA stenosis. In normal VA, positive (PPV) and negative predictive (NPV) values were calculated for the development of clinical ...