Commentary

Abstract

There are four abstracts selected for this issue. The first two are review articles that appeared in the January 2011 issue of Clinical Radiology. These are followed by two original articles from the February 2011 issue of European Radiology. The first of the reviews highlights the issue of failing dialysis fistulae. Reliable vascular access is a real issue with patient on long term haemodialysis. The best and most cost effective solution is a native arterio-venous fistula. Given proper care (and some luck) well made fistulae can last for over a decade. Given this it is important that fistulae which are failing be dealt with promptly and appropriately. The best modality for this is percutaneous therapy. This is now established as the first line treatment in this situation. Benta and colleagues reinforce this in their review and set out the basic principles of dealing with thrombosed arterio venous fistulae.