Synthetic dialysis grafts clot more often than native fistulas. They usually warn you first with falling flow rates.
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute in Tinley Park images the graft and treats the narrowing in the same visit. Patients come from Orland Park, Mokena, and Frankfort.
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute
A graftogram is a fluoroscopic imaging study in which a vascular specialist injects iodinated contrast dye through a needle placed in an arteriovenous graft.
The images follow the dye from the arterial anastomosis, through the synthetic conduit, and out to the central veins. Stenosis, thrombus, and pseudoaneurysm all become visible.
Our physicians perform graftograms at Soris Pain & Vascular Institute. Patients with a native arteriovenous fistula receive a Fistulogram instead.
A graft is a synthetic tube sewn between an artery and a vein. It never matures into living vessel wall, so the vein where it drains reacts to the flow by thickening.
That venous anastomosis is where most graft stenoses form. Soris Pain & Vascular Institute images it directly, because a graft that narrows there can clot within days.
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute combines diagnostic imaging with same-session treatment. When the graftogram shows a narrowing, the team performs balloon Angioplasty immediately rather than booking a second visit.
Procedure
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute reviews recent dialysis flow records, venous pressure trends, and physical exam findings. No fasting is required. Patients should leave the graft free of needle sticks the day before.
A small needle punctures the graft. Contrast dye traces the conduit under fluoroscopic imaging. Mapping the circuit takes 15 to 20 minutes.
If a stenosis appears, angioplasty adds 20 to 30 minutes.
Pressure is applied to the puncture site for 10 to 15 minutes. Most patients resume dialysis at their next scheduled session. Soris Pain & Vascular Institute sends results to the referring nephrologist the same day.
Benefits
Grafts give warning signs weeks before they thrombose. Imaging at the first drop in flow lets Soris Pain & Vascular Institute treat a narrowing electively, instead of managing an emergency Declot after dialysis has already been missed.
The study maps the arterial anastomosis, the full graft body, the venous anastomosis, and the central veins. Soris Pain & Vascular Institute finds outflow problems that surveillance ultrasound in the dialysis unit can miss.
When a Graftogram Is Ordered
Dialysis units refer patients when flow rates fall, venous pressures climb, cannulation becomes difficult, or the graft clots more than once in a year. Prolonged bleeding after needle removal and arm swelling point to the same problem.
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute treats these as signs of graft stenosis until imaging proves otherwise. Patients who rely on a tunneled dialysis catheter while a graft is being repaired are managed through CVC Placement and CVC Exchange.
Collaboration
Our physicians perform graftograms at Soris Pain & Vascular Institute. The team manages the full lifecycle of dialysis access, from surveillance imaging through revision.
FAQ
The technique is the same; the access is not. A graftogram images a synthetic conduit, while a fistulogram images a vein that has been surgically matured into an access.
Soris Pain & Vascular Institute images a graft whenever flow rates decline or venous pressures rise. Grafts stenose more readily than fistulas, so many patients are seen on a shorter surveillance interval.
Stenoses found during a graftogram are treated with balloon angioplasty in the same session. Soris Pain & Vascular Institute eliminates the need for a second procedure visit.
Board-certified physicians bringing hospital-level, minimally invasive interventional procedures to outpatient centers.
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