Outcomes of arteriovenous access among cancer patients requiring chronic haemodialysis

BACKGROUND: There are limited data focusing specifically on the types of arteriovenous (AV) access used and outcomes of AV access among cancer patients as a consequence of cancer. We aimed to describe outcomes of AV access among cancer patients requiring chronic haemodialysis, and also to compare outcomes between patients with and without cancer. METHODS: In this single-centre, retrospective, observational cohort study, 84 patients diagnosed with cancer before AV access placement were included; we analysed outcomes of AV access among these patients and compared these outcomes with our previous results. The study endpoints were AV access patency and early failure, defined as AV access abandonment within 12 months after AV access placement. RESULTS: Various cancer types, stages, and treatments were identified in our analysis. Autologous arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) were used for 92.9% of this study population. Using our previous results for comparison, we found no significant difference in death-censored primary (P = 0.546) and secondary (P = 0.266) patency of AV access between patients with and without cancer; however, the rate of early AVF failure was statistically significantly higher among cancer patients (25.6% vs 13.9%; P = 0.008), and the most common cause of AVF failure was patient death. The rate of early failure was significantly higher among patients with advanced-stage cancer (59.1%) than among those with early-stage cancer (12.9%) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although AV access patency rates were similar among patients with and without cancer in the death-censored analysis, cancer patients were more prone to early AVF failure, mainly due to cancer-associated deaths, and this consideration needs to be carefully balanced against individual patients’ life expectancies, according to cancer type and stage.