Abstract
[Purpose] This study aimed to compare various ultrasonographic methods for evaluating vascular access (VA) stenotic lesions and identify clinically useful parameters. [Methods] A total of 145 autogenous arteriovenous fistulas were examined. The stenotic diameter (with and without compression), cross-sectional area (with and without compression), stenosis rate, peak systolic flow velocity (PSV), and peak systolic velocity ratio (PSVR) were measured. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to compare accuracy for predicting poor blood withdrawal. In addition, correlations with the brachial artery flow volume (FV) were evaluated. [Results] ROC analysis demonstrated that both the stenotic diameter and cross-sectional area showed the highest accuracy levels and strong correlations with FV. Although the stenosis rate showed moderate results, it was inferior to the stenotic diameter and cross-sectional area. PSV and PSVR exhibited low predictive accuracy and weak correlations with FV. [Conclusion] Quantitative evaluation of poor blood withdrawal using the stenotic diameter and cross-sectional area is clinically useful and may serve as a standard ultrasonographic assessment method.
