The related factors to the re‐thrombosis of hemodialysis arteriovenous graft after endovascular salvage

Background Only a few issues of the related factors to hemodialysis access dysfunction have been evaluated, and the effects of antiplatelets to improve the patency of hemodialysis access remained controversial. Hence, this study aimed to determine the related factors to the re‐thrombosis of arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) after endovascular treatment. Methods This retrospective study was conducted at a university‐affiliated teaching hospital in Southern Thailand. All patients who underwent hemodialysis with thrombosed AVG, who had pharmacomechanical thrombolysis from January 2016 to December 2018, were enrolled. Post‐intervention primary patency was analyzed by the Kaplan‐Meier method, and the related factors to the re‐thrombosis of AVG were evaluated using logistic regression. Results A total of 157 patients with thrombosed hemodialysis AVG were enrolled. The most common graft location and configuration was a forearm loop graft (65%). Post‐intervention primary patency rate at 1, 3, and 6 months were 79.0%, 67.1%, and 54.0%, respectively. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was a significant related factor for re‐thrombosis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20–2.98; p = 0.006). A single antiplatelet after the procedure was a protective factor for re‐thrombosis (HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.38–0.89; p = 0.013). The median post‐intervention primary patency was 15.7 months in the group of single antiplatelet usage, which was better than that of the non‐antiplatelet group (p = 0.012). Conclusion DM and antiplatelet usage were significant related factors to the re‐thrombosis of hemodialysis AVG after endovascular salvage.