Ultrasound Prediction of Successful Balloon Assisted AVF Maturation

Launched by GUY'S AND ST THOMAS' NHS FOUNDATION TRUST · Jan 8, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how ultrasound can help predict whether a special procedure called balloon assisted maturation (BAM) will successfully help an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) mature. An AVF is a connection between an artery and a vein that is created for patients with severe kidney disease who need dialysis to clean their blood. Sometimes, this connection doesn’t grow well enough to be used for dialysis, and BAM helps with that by inflating a balloon inside the vein to improve blood flow. The goal of this study is to see if measuring blood flow with ultrasound before and after BAM can give doctors clues about which AVFs are likely to mature successfully.

To be part of this study, participants need to be adults over 18 years old who have an AVF that isn’t maturing well and are being referred for the BAM procedure. They must have a specific type of AVF and be able to give their consent to participate. If they join the trial, participants can expect to undergo ultrasound tests and routine blood tests, which will help doctors make decisions about their care. This study is important because it could lead to better ways to predict and improve the success of AVF maturation, ultimately benefiting patients requiring dialysis.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Adult patients (\>18 years of age) referred for BAM procedure due to immature native AVF
• • AVFs with radio-cephalic or brachio-cephalic configuration
• • AVF suitable for endovascular BAM procedure
• • Patient is able to provide informed consent
• • Patient is willing and able to comply with the study-related procedures
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Brachio-basilic AVFs requiring transposition and superficialisation procedures during maturation phase
• • Patients with arterio-venous grafts (AVGs) for vascular access
• • Previous BAM procedures performed to facilitate maturation
• • AVF unsuitable for BAM procedure or BAM procedure not performed