Rc. Sheley et al., LOCAL-DELIVERY OF HEPARIN WITH BALLOON ANGIOPLASTY - RESULTS OF A PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED TRIAL, Journal of vascular and interventional radiology, 7(6), 1996, pp. 853-858
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of local delivery of heparin vi
a hydrogel-coated balloons in the treatment of vascular stenoses assoc
iated with hemodialysis access, MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a rand
omized, prospective trial comparing treatment with hydrogel-coated bal
loon catheters delivered with heparin coating (n = 33) and without (n
= 26). All patients were undergoing hemodialysis, and all stenoses inv
olved the venous anastomosis of a dialysis graft or a native vein. The
heparin-treated balloons were soaked in concentrated heparin and deli
vered in a protected manner to help prevent washout of heparin, RESULT
S: The mean primary patencies were 143 days with heparin treatment and
214 days without heparin (P = .174), The mean assisted primary patenc
ies were 165 days with heparin and 194 days without (P = .315). The me
an secondary patencies were 351 days with heparin and 384 without (P =
.81). CONCLUSION: In this population with this technique, the treatme
nt outcome of venous outflow stenosis in patients with dialysis grafts
is not improved with local delivery of heparin.