Patency Rates After Successful Arteriovenous Fistula Thrombectomy: Relevance of the Flow/d-Dimer Ratio in the Decision-Making

OBJECTIVES Surgical thrombectomy for acute arteriovenous fistula (AVF) thrombosis is one of the primary salvage intervention. The independent risk factors affecting the patency of AVF after a successful thrombectomy are yet unknown. Here, the author aimed to report the results of surgically corrected AVFs and the independent risk factors which may cause early failure following the surgical salvage. METHODS The study cohort comprised 24 patients who had acute AVF thrombosis and underwent successful surgical thrombectomy in the first 24 to 48 hours between January 2016 and April 2020 in our center. The study group was divided into patients with recurrent AVF thrombosis (n = 11, 45.8%) and without recurrent AVF thrombosis (n = 13, 54.1%) following surgical thrombectomy with a follow-up of 22.4 ± 6.8 months. Postthrombectomy primary and secondary patency of AVF were also evaluated. RESULTS The mean age of the cohort was 58.1 ± 15.2 years. A simple thrombectomy was performed for all cases. Only 2 cases have required a revision at the anastomosis due to severe intimal hyperplasia. Postthrombectomy primary patency rate was 45.5% for 18 months. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed with a resulting area under the curve value of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.35-0.94, P = .006) for flow (mL)/d-dimer (ng/mL) <0.63 in predicting recurrent AVF thrombosis following surgical thrombectomy. CONCLUSIONS Flow (mL)/d-dimer (ng/mL) <0.63 was independent predictor of recurrent thrombosis (RT) of a surgically salvaged AVF. The patients at risk for RT or who may benefit from further intervention should be identified with predictive parameters.