Non-Invasive Assessment of AV Fistulae (NIAF) V1.2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Non-Invasive Assessment of Blood Flow in Arteriovenous Fistulae
IRAS ID
302169
Contact name
Carol Alves
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 28 days
Research summary
When patients have severe kidney disease it is possible that the patient will require help filtering their blood to remove waste, as their body can no longer do this on its own. The process of using equipment to filter a patient’s blood is referred to as ‘dialysis’. For dialysis to be possible, a surgical procedure connecting two blood vessels needs to be completed, creating a point where the dialysis equipment can be connected to the patient, this point is referred to as a ‘fistula’.
While fistulas are important in terms of allowing connection of the dialysis equipment, the process does change the way in which blood flows through the arm and hand. One potential detrimental outcome from changing the blood flow is a reduction of blood flowing to the hand. Reduced blood flow can result in mild symptoms such as coolness, pallor, mild paraesthesia and pain during dialysis through to severe symptoms, such as moderate or severe pain at rest, loss of function (paralysis), ulceration, tissue death (necrosis) and loss of one or more fingers or the entire hand. Considering the range and potential severity of the symptoms, a process which can assess blood flow from the fistula to the hand is highly desirable.
This proposed pilot study is looking at whether a simple to complete, low cost, low risk tool can be used to assess blood flow in the hand of patients with end-stage kidney disease. Two non-invasive sensors will be lightly applied to the skin of each arm of patients with end stage kidney disease. The signals from the sensors be compared (fistula arm vs non-fistula arm) and the information obtained will be used to design full scale study to further investigate the technique.REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/1116
Date of REC Opinion
19 Aug 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion