Efficacy of SMART Stent Placement for Salvage Angioplasty in Hemodialysis Patients with Recurrent Vascular Access Stenosis
Vascular access stenosis is a major complication in hemodialysis patients. We prospectively observed 50 patients in whom 50 nitinol shape-memory alloy-recoverable technology (SMART) stents were used as salvage therapy for recurrent peripheral venous stenosis. Twenty-five stents each were deployed in native arteriovenous fistula (AVF) and synthetic arteriovenous polyurethane graft (AVG) cases. Vascular access patency rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier analysis. The primary patency rates in AVFversusAVG at 3, 6, and 12 months were 80.3%versus75.6%, 64.9%versus28.3%, and 32.3%versus18.9%, respectively. The secondary patency rates in AVFversusAVG at 3, 6, and 12 months were 88.5%versus75.5%, 82.6%versus61.8%, and 74.4%versus61.8%, respectively. Although there were no statistically significant difference in patency between AVF and AVG, AVG showed poor tendency in primary and secondary patency. The usefulness of SMART stents was limited in a short period of time in hemodialysis patients with recurrent vascular access stenosis.