Catheters and shunts are considered temporary forms of access. The remaining 31.8 percent were still using temporary catheters 2 months after starting hemodialysis. 3 Researchers have noted regional variations in the choice of fistula or graft and a consistent trend away from fistula use. 3 To control these costs and to spare patients the suffering caused by vascular access failure, patients and their doctors must learn about the advantages of having an AV fistula rather than a synthetic graft. Members of a vascular access workgroup at the Baltimore meeting recommended developing epidemiological studies to explore barriers to the referral of patients with chronic renal failure to nephrologists long before dialysis or transplantation is necessary.
Early referral is predicted to increase the likelihood of appropriate vascular access.
To learn more about the further development of this initiative, contact John W. Kusek, Ph.D., director, Clinical Trials Program, or Lawrence Y. C. Agodoa, M.D., director, End-Stage Renal Disease Program. Predictors of type of vascular access in hemodialysis patients. Vascular access survival in hemodialysis patients. 1997 Annual Data Report. When the oral drug sildenafil citrate, better known by its proprietary name Viagra, received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in March 1998, the new, noninvasive treatment for erectile dysfunction was the subject of newspaper headlines, magazine cover stories, radio talk show discussions, and late-night comedy monologues.