Abstract: Objective To study the factors relating to the low blood flow in autogenous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, and to find out useful clues to early clinic intervention. Methods A total of 159 MHD patients with autogenous AVF and treated in this hospital from Jun, 2006 to Dec, 2009 were included in this study. In 21 cases of these patients, disease condition could not be improved by MHD due to inadequate vascular access resulting from low blood flow in AVF. Age, sex, body mass index, primary disease, fistula maturity, hypotension, vascular access thrombosis, fistula narrow index and fistula usage time that may relate to the failure of AVF were collected in these patients and compared with those in the other 133 cases with normal blood flow in AVF using binary logistic regression analysis. Results Low blood flow in AVF was found in 21 (13.21%) patients. Age, body mass index, primary disease, low blood pressure, vascular access thrombosis, fistula stenosis, fistula maturity and fistula usage time were significantly different between patients with low blood flow in AVF and those with normal blood flow in AVF (P<0.05). Conclusion Body mass index, diabetes, vascular access thrombosis and fistula usage time are important factors relating to blood flow in AVF in MHD patients. Improvement of patient’s nutritional status and regularly monitoring the AVF situation can be helpful for the adequate blood flow in AVF.

Key words: Autogenous AVF, Low blood flow, Related factors