Tract dilation to salvage failing buttonholes in arteriovenous dialysis fistulae.

INTRODUCTION: Hemodialysis patients with an arteriovenous fistula can use buttonhole techniques for cannulation. Although buttonholes generally work well, patients may report difficult and painful cannulation, and buttonholes may fail over time. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of tract dilation in treatment of failing buttonholes.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients treated with buttonhole tract dilation at an outpatient vascular access center between January 2013 and August 2015.

RESULTS: Data from 23 patients were analyzed. There were 51 tract dilation procedures during 36 encounters for failing arteriovenous fistula buttonhole tract(s). The technical success rate for established tract dilation with "blunt-recanalization" was 90% (n = 46). The five remaining buttonholes had "sharp-recanalization" to create and dilate new tract through the buttonhole. For 46 buttonholes treated with "blunt-recanalization," there was an 85% clinical success rate at one week (39 buttonholes), and one was lost to follow-up; there was a 70% clinical success rate after one month (32 buttonholes). In the five buttonholes with "sharp-recanalization," there was only one clinical success with p < 0.05 for difference in success rate compared to "blunt-recanalization" at both one week and one month. There was one complication from "sharp-recanalization" requiring abandonment of the buttonhole tract.

DISCUSSION: Buttonhole tract dilation is a useful method to treat difficult cannulation and painful cannulation and has the potential to extend the life of failing buttonholes.