Inés, Aragoncillo Sauco, José Manuel, Ligero Ramos, Almudena, Vega Martínez, Ángel Luis, Morales Muñoz, Soraya, Abad Estébanez, Nicolás, Macías Carmona, Diego, Ruiz Chiriboga, Rosario, García Pajares, Teresa, Cervera Bravo, Juan Manuel, López-Gómez, Soledad, Manzano Grossi, Elena, Menéndez Sánchez, Javier, Río Gomez, Ana María, García Prieto, Tania, Linares Grávalos, Fernando, Garcia Boyano, Luis Manuel, Reparaz Asensio, Marta, Albalate Ramón, Patricia, de Sequera Ortiz, Beatriz, Gil Casares, Jara, Ampuero Mencía, Sandra, Castellano, Belén, Martín Pérez, José Luís Martín, Conty, Alba, Santos Garcia, and José, Luño Fernandez
Background: A multidisciplinary approach and Doppler ultrasound (DU) assessment for the creation and maintenance of arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) for haemodialysis can improve prevalence and patency. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of a new multidisciplinary vascular access (VA) clinic with routine DU. Material and methods: We analysed the VA clinic results from 2014 and 2015, before and after the implementation of a multidisciplinary team protocol (vascular surgeon/nephrologist) with routine DU in preoperative mapping and prevalent AVF. Results: We analysed 345 and 364 patients from 2014 and 2015 respectively. The number of surgical interventions was similar in both periods (p = .289), with a trend towards an increase in preventive surgical repair of AVF in 2015 (17 vs. 29, p = .098). 155 vs. 169 new AVF were performed in 2014 and 2015, with a significantly lower primary failure rate in 2015 (26.4 vs. 15.3%, p = .015), and a non-significant increase in radiocephalic AVF, 25.8 vs. 33.2% (n=40 vs. 56), p = .159. The concordance between the indication at the clinic and the surgery performed also increased (81.3 vs. 93.5%, p = .001). Throughout 2015 fewer complementary imaging test were requested from the clinic (78 vs. 35, p < .001), with a corresponding reduction in costs ( 87,716 vs. 59,445). Conclusions: Multidisciplinary approach with routine DU can improve VA results, with a decrease in primary failure rate, higher likelihood of radiocephalic AVF, better management of dis-functioning AVF and lower radiological test costs. (C) 2018 Sociedad Espanola de Nefrologia. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license