The role of per-operative systemic heparin to improve primary patency rate of vascular access surgery is controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the risk and benefit of systemic heparin during creation of vascular access for hemodialysis in patients with chronic renal failure. Patients undergoing creation of side to end radio-cephalic arteriovenous fistula over distal forearm for hem...

Branco et al. (1) describe two cases of injuries during laparoscopic renal surgery; both recognized immediately and repaired laparoscopically. Laparoscopic entry complications are an uncommon but potentially life-threatening complication of laparoscopic surgery. Most such injuries occur during initial trocar insertion and most commonly involve major vessels and/or bowel. Failing to recognize th...

In the video by Branco et al. (1) two vascular injuries are shown. The video is very illustrative on how injuries are recognized and more important the way they are repaired. A quick intraoperative diagnosis of the injury and an appropiate management was performed by the surgeons. Altough uncommon, an important percentage of injuries in laparoscopic procedures occur during the abdominal access ...

Over a seven year period from 1982 to 1989,3337 conduits were created in 3137 patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) as access for chronic dialysis. These included 2690 side-to-side arteriovenous fistulae (A VF), 168 end-to-side A VFs, 10 autogenous vein grafts, 51 homogenous frozen vein grafts, 109 polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts, 209 emergency external arteriovenous shunts, t...

Aims: The optimal timing of predialysis vascular access surgery remains uncertain. This study goal was to evaluate the influence of kidney function and clinical characteristics at predialysis vascular access surgery on the likelihood of initiating hemodialysis during follow-up. Methods: Our study retrospectively identified all patients undergoing predialysis arteriovenous fistula creation betwe...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Major vascular injury is the most devastating complication of laparoscopy, occurring most commonly during the laparoscopic entry phase. Our goal is to report our experience with major vascular injury during laparoscopic entry with closed- and open-access techniques in urologic procedures. METHODS All 5347 patients who underwent laparoscopic urologic procedures from 1...