|
The REVISE Study
The
Division of
Interventional Radiology has begun the REVISE study, officially titled
the Gore Viabahn Endoprosthesis versus Percutaneous Transluminal
Angioplasty
(PTA) to Revise Arteriovenous Grafts at the Venous Anastomosis in
Hemodialysis
Patients.
Research
Coordinator Tina
Cooper explained that “the REVISE study is a randomized study -- the
patient
has a 50-50 chance of receiving the stent -- for patients who receive
dialysis
through a graft but have developed stenosis in the vein past
the
graft. When stenosis is blocking more than 50% of the vein, the patient
meets criteria
for inclusion in the study.”
Dr.
Renan Uflacker added that
“the Achilles heel of the dialysis graft is the venous anastomosis, and
dialysis is the lifeline of the patients with chronic renal
insufficiency.
Dialysis access grafts, for years, have been plagued by intimal
hyperplasia, thickening of the venous wall and narrowing of the lumen
of the
vessel, which causes failure and precludes dialysis. Balloon
angioplasty, while
effective, has a relatively high incidence of failure and re-stenosis.
One more
recent alternative to angioplasty is the use of covered
stents. The REVISE
study was designed to compare angioplasty of the venous anastomosis
with a PTFE
covered stent, to find out if the outcomes are better with stents
versus
angioplasty.”
Co-Investigators
on this
study are Dr. Marcelo Guimarães, Dr. Christopher Hannegan, Dr.
Claudio
Schönholz, Dr. Bayne Selby and Dr. Uflacker.
|
