Relationship Between Arterial Variations and Patency of Arteriovenous Fistulae

In 2019, KDOQI considered that uremic patients with a life expectancy of more than one year should require hemodialysis as an effective renal replacement therapy before preparation of kidney transplantation. Arteriovenous fistula, as the lifeline of uremic patients, plays an important role in their daily hemodialysis. The patency of arteriovenous fistula is largely restricted by the inflow artery. According to available medical literatures, an incidence rate of variations in the branching pattern of the main arteries in the upper limb is ranged from 7.2% to 25.0%. and there is a large difference in the incidence rate between sex and race, furthermore, the incidence rate of variations in the branching pattern of the main arteries in the upper limb of Chinese is still unclear. The brachial artery is the main artery of the upper limb. It gives off two terminal branches at the distal end of the elbow crease, the radial and ulnar arteries, the former one often serves as an arterial inflow to create an arteriovenous fistula in the forearm. High bifurcation of the brachial artery (HBBA) seems to be a common variation which may result in immaturity or disfunction of arteriovenous fistulas. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the variations in the branching pattern of the main arteries in the upper limb of Chinese, in order to study on the hemodynamic changes, and their influence on the establishment, maturation and failure of arteriovenous fistulas in the upper limb.