Drug eluting balloon angioplasty for assisted maturation of failing fistulae

Objective:To present our experience of balloon-assisted maturation with drug-eluting balloon dilation in patients with recurrent failing arteriovenous fistulae.Case series:Three patients (all males, mean age 71 years) with a complex history of failed attempts at native fistula creation underwent surgical creation of arteriovenous fistulae. Two patients had a two-stage brachio-brachial fistula and 1 had a brachio-cephalic fistula that also required subsequent elevation. After a few weeks of preserved patency with a thrill detected clinically, all patients had a gradual deterioration of flow manifested with loss of thrill and multiple severely stenotic lesions of neo-intimal hyperplasia seen on duplex ultrasound. All 3 non-maturing native arteriovenous fistulae had 1 or more angioplasties with regular balloons that were initially successful; however, they rapidly deteriorated with a loss of thrill and a recurrence of multiple stenosis. Drug-eluting balloon dilation was used subsequently as a last resort to ...