Preoperative assessment of the efficacy of distal radial artery ligation in treatment of steal syndrome complicating access for hemodialysis.

Hand ischemic steal syndrome due to a forearm arteriovenous fistula is a rare occurrence. We report here a case in which we applied a new diagnostic method to assess the efficacy of distal radial ligation to treat this syndrome. A favorable comparison of distal radial artery pressure measurements before and after temporary occlusion of the artery with a balloon catheter indicated that perfusion of the hand would be dramatically improved after surgical artery ligation.