A Randomized Trial of Postoperative Handgrip Exercises for Fistula Maturation in Patients With Newly Created Wrist Radiocephalic Arteriovenous Fistulas

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to substantiate the benefit of postoperative handgrip exercises (HGEs) in enhancing the maturation of an arteriovenous wrist fistula. METHODS: We randomly assigned 119 patients aged 20 to 80 years who had wrist arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) to undergo either a basic HGE program (group A), an advanced program (group B), or an advanced-plus upper arm banding program (group C). Outcomes were assessed by ultrasonographic evaluation of the diameter and flow at each follow-up. The attending nephrologist decided the clinical use of the fistula. RESULTS: We identified no significant differences among the HGE groups in the mean diameter and blood flow 14, 30, 60, and 90 days after the creation of the wrist AVF (P = 0.55, 0.88, 0.21, and 0.19 for the diameter; 0.94, 0.81, 0.49, and 0.56 for the flow, respectively). The intent-to-treat analysis also found no difference in the clinical use of fistulas for hemodialysis (HD) (P = 0.997). CONCLUSION: In patients with a newly created wrist AVF, advancing frequency, with or without adding intensity using an upper arm tourniquet, of postoperative HGEs did not enhance the growth of the fistula or increase the rate of clinical use over 3 months. (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03077815).