The life cycle of the vascular access: from creation to ligation

The vascular access is the Achilles' heel of hemodialysis. This thesis focuses on the maturation and long-term outcomes of arteriovenous fistulas and compares them to arteriovenous grafts. Also the results from the LIPMAT-study are presented, a randomized controlled trial in which improvement of arteriovenous fistula maturation using liposomal prednisolone was evaluated. Finally, cardiac effects of arteriovenous fistulas are explored.