Authors: Quicken, Sjeng (57191882765); Huberts, Wouter (26221821000); Tordoir, Jan (7007186164); van Loon, Magda (17136317600); Delhaas, Tammo (7003505946); Mees, Barend (13605734300)

Objective: Arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) typically lose patency within two years of creation due to venous neointimal hyperplasia, which is initiated by disturbed haemodynamics after AVG surgery. Haemodialysis needle flow can further disturb haemodynamics and thus impact AVG longevity. In this computational study it was assessed how dialysis flow and venous needle positioning impacts flow at the graft-vein anastomosis. Furthermore, it was studied how negative effects of dialysis needle flow could be mitigated.

DIO: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2019.08.013