The Role of Endovascular Stents in Dialysis Access Maintenance

Vascular stenosis is most often the culprit behind hemodialysis vascular access dysfunction, and while percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) remains the gold standard treatment for vascular stenosis, over the past decade the use of stents as a treatment option has been on the rise. Aside from the two FDA approved stent-grafts for the treatment of venous graft anastomosis (VGA) stenosis, use of all other stents in vascular access dysfunction is off-label. KDOQI recommends limiting stent use to specific conditions, such as elastic lesions and recurrent stenosis; otherwise, additional adapted indications are in procedure-related complications, such as grade 2 and 3 hematomas. Published reports have shown the potential use of stents in a variety of conditions leading to vascular access dysfunction; such as VGA stenosis, cephalic arch stenosis, central venous stenosis, dialysis access aneurysmal elimination, Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device induced stenosis, and thrombosed arteriovenous grafts (AVG). While further research is needed for many of these conditions, evidence for recommendations has been clear in some; for instance, we know now that stents should be avoided along cannulations sites and should not be used in eliminating dialysis access aneurysms. In this review article, we evaluate the available evidence for the use of stents in each of the aforementioned conditions leading to hemodialysis vascular access dysfunctions