High Failure Rate of First Arterio-Venous Fistula in Patients Starting Hemodialysis Treatment: A Report from the Ivory Coast

his study was conducted in order to identify the failure rate of the first arterio­venous fistula (AVF) in patients starting hemodialysis (HD) with a central venous catheter (CVC) and to search for factors responsible for this failure. A retrospective study was conducted on 85 patients on chronic HD in Abidjan, from March 15 th to April 15 th , 2007. Factors that could poten­tially influence the failure of the first AVF were collected. Statistical analysis was used for com­parison between groups. Among the study subjects, 7.14% had AVF at the start of their dialysis as against 92.86% who had CVC. About 50% of the patients starting dialysis with CVC failed to have an AVF created within 90 days of commencing dialysis. The number of catheters inserted was significantly higher in patients with failed first AVF as compared to their counterparts (49.29 % versus 30.77%) (p 0.001). Similarly, the number of attempts at AVF creation, within 90 days of starting HD, was significantly higher in patients with failed first AVF (81.48% versus 18.52%) (p 0.001). Multivariate analysis did not reveal any specific factor(s) that influenced the failure rate of the first AVF. Our study suggests that a very small number of patients in Ivory Coast started dialysis with an AVF. The failure rate of the first AVF in patients starting dialysis on CVC is about 50%.