Follow-up results after stent placement in failing arteriovenous shunts: a three-year experience.

Self-expandable endoprostheses were used in 18 failing arteriovenous shunts after unsuccessful balloon dilatation. Technical success was satisfactory with an early patency in 17 of 18 shunts. Thrombosis right after stenting occurred in three shunts but was successfully treated in two. Follow-up history revealed recurrent events of reobstruction due either to stent or shunt stenoses or thrombosis. Restenosis within the stented segment was responsible for reobstruction in about half the cases. Although patency was low with 27% at 18-month follow-up, repeated intervention established a shunt survival rate of 77% at 18-month follow-up. Stent placement in AV shunts is useful for overcoming acute problems of balloon dilatation but does not prevent restenosis.