Long and short term patency of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas.

Eighty-three radiocephalic fistulas in 71 uremic patients were retrospectively investigated. The fistulas were grouped according to construction, viz. side of radial artery to side of cephalic vein and end of cephalic vein to side of radial artery. The aim was to find and evaluate factors influencing fistula patency rate, with special emphasis on type of anastomosis. The early failure rate was significantly higher in the end-to-side group. The late failure rate was not influenced by mode of fistula construction. The fistula failure rate showed no correlation to patient age. Diabetes did not influence failure rate, but significantly shortened the mean patency time.