SPIRAL COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC ANGIOGRAPHY - A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR EVALUATION OF VASCULAR ACCESS IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS

Spiral computed tomographic angiography (CTA), a new noninvasive imagi ng technique, was used to study 10 arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) in 9 h emodialysis patients. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was also p erformed as a gold standard for comparison. AVF stenosis was graded by a four-point scale: grade 0, well patency of supplying artery, anasto mosis and drainage vein; grade 1, <50% stenosis; grade 2, 50-70% steno sis; grade 3, 70-99% stenosis, and grade 4, total occlusion. We found CTA correlated closely to DSA in detecting both stenosis and dilatatio n of AVF and it spared all the shortcomings of DSA. CTA has the potent ial to be alternative for imaging of dialysis fistulas. Further studie s will be performed to specify the role of CTA images in the assessmen t of the hemodialysis vascular access.