For patients with kidney failure, cutting-edge procedures are used to create a portal to the bloodstream to make dialysis more convenient and efficient for both the patient and caregiver, even when many or all of the standard locations for a graft or fistula have been exhausted.

Duke’s team of surgeons, interventionalists, sonographers, and nephrologists work together to deliver the best of care.

Treatments are based on the Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (DOQI) guidelines. At Duke, use of autogenous grafts (native vessel fistulae), which are made from your own tissue, are preferred whenever possible. Graft longevity is prolonged by a multidisciplinary approach to the occluded dialysis graft.

Use of indwelling catheters (a man-made tube) is kept to a minimum by advanced planning of dialysis graft placement. Our vascular surgeons also have the ability to insert peritoneal dialysis catheters (PD catheters) as an option for dialysis access.

Duke is a leader in using gene therapy in experimental methods of reducing intimal hyperplasia (a complication of these procedures that can cause grafts to fail).

Physician Assistant

• Gage, Shawn M.

Physicians

Physicians offering this service include:

• Lawson, Jeffrey H.
• McCann, Richard L.
• Mureebe, Leila

Locations

This service is available at:

• Duke University Hospital
  2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710