Vascular access surgery – a “minor surgery” that should be deeply understood

As we all know, vascular access is the lifeline of dialysis patients with chronic end-stage renal disease. Smooth vascular access and adequate dialysis blood flow are the foundation for uremic patients to maintain a good living condition and survive for a long time. Statistics show that vascular access problems are a high risk area for dialysis patients. A non-functioning vascular access leads to inadequate dialysis and quickly leads to water and sodium retention, electrolyte disorders, infections, cardiopulmonary insufficiency and other problems that threaten patients’ lives. Vascular access problems and the complications they cause account for more than 30% of outpatient dialysis hospitalizations, greatly increasing the burden and risk to patients. Dialysis access surgery is a tiny procedure that is usually done by making a tiny incision of less than 2 cm in the skin under local anesthesia. Vascular access procedures include endovascular endovascular surgery, allograft bypass, artificial vascular bypass, temporary and long-term placement of deep veins (internal jugular, subclavian, or femoral veins). However, such a small “insignificant” procedure is not always well performed and maintained. Some of the reasons are due to the patient’s own conditions, such as: vascular anatomical variation, arteriosclerosis, arterial lumen narrowing or occlusion caused by long-term chronic diseases (kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, etc.), vascular damage caused by local vascular puncture, as well as obesity, advanced age, abnormal coagulation mechanism, etc.; while others are due to the lack of thorough understanding of the local vascular anatomy by the medical staff involved in the procedure, or the lack of knowledge of the local vascular anatomy. Another part of the reason is that the medical personnel involved in the procedure either do not have a thorough understanding of the local vascular anatomy, or do not have the fine technique of microvascular anastomosis; or do not have a specialist understanding of how to use vascular access for hemodialysis, or have improper postoperative care. More than 50% of patients on long-term dialysis experience more than one vascular access failure, and a significant number of patients suffer from life-threatening complications such as sodium retention, hyperkalemia, hypertension, cardiopulmonary failure, and severe infections due to improper management, and some patients even lose their lives as a result.