Table 1.

Intimal morphometry and associations with arteriovenous fistula outcomes in the hemodialysis population

Study	N a	Vein	Parameter(s)	Measurementsb	Association(s)
Preexisting intimal hyperplasia
Feinfeld et al. (23)	15	Brachial (n=15)	Ave. I thickness	6.0±0.9 µm	N/A
Lee et al. (18)	12	Cephalic (n=6), axillary (n=3), antecubital (n=1), basilic (n=1), brachial (n=1)	Ave. IM thickness	0.34±0.12 mm	Significant association with maturation failure (P=0.03, n=7)
			Max. IM thickness	1.16±0.30 mm	N/A
			I/M area ratio	0.24±0.07	N/A
			% Luminal occlusion	47%±9%	Lack of association with maturation failure (P=0.09, n=7)
Wasse et al. (24)	10	Cephalic, basilic	Ave. I thickness	0.066±0.019 mm	N/A
			Max. I thickness	0.166±0.042 mm	N/A
			Mean I/M thickness ratio	0.26±0.07	N/A
			Max. I/M thickness ratio	0.69±0.19	N/A
			Intimal area	0.27±0.08 mm2	N/A
			I/M area ratio	0.24±0.06	N/A
Allon et al. (4)	113	Upper arm (65%), forearm (35%)	Max. I thickness	0.022 (0.013–0.045) mm	Lack of association with postoperative stenosis (P=0.49)
Lee et al. (21)	29	N/A	Mean I/M thickness ratio	0.43±0.07	N/A
			Max. I/M thickness ratio	0.86±0.07	N/A
Lazich et al. (19)	18	Cephalic (n=18)	Max. I thickness	0.052–0.81 mm	N/A
			Intimal area	0.16–7.70 mm2	N/A
			I/M area ratio	0.07–1.80	N/A
			Mean I/M thickness ratio	0.07–1.99	N/A
			Max. I/M thickness ratio	0.14–2.44	N/A
			% Luminal stenosis	45%–96%	N/A
Tabbara et al. (2)	57	Basilic (n=54), brachial (n=3)	Max. I thickness	0.18 (0.10–0.20) mm	Lack of association with primary unassisted patency (P=0.2, n=52)
			I/M area ratio	N/A	Lack of association with primary unassisted patency (P=0.2, n=52)
HFM Study (5,52)c	365	Cephalic (69%), basilic (29%), brachial (2%)	% Luminal occlusion	28%±27% (cephalic), 40%±30% (basilic), 21%±23% (brachial)	Lack of association with postoperative stenosis at 1 day (P=0.49), 2 weeks (P=0.91), or 6 weeks (P=0.07); lack of association with unassisted (P=0.07) or overall maturation failure (P=0.11)
Martinez et al. (3)	110	Basilic (n=104), brachial (n=4), cephalic (n=2)	I/M area ratio	0.32 (0.22–0.52)	Lack of association with maturation failure (P=0.7)
Allon et al. (6)	129	Upper arm (65%), forearm (35%)	Max. I thickness	0.037±0.040 mm	N/A
Postoperative intimal hyperplasia
Roy-Chaudhury et al. (41)	4	Cephalic (n=4), all early failures	Mean I/M thickness ratio	3.12±0.43	N/A
			Max. I/M thickness ratio	7.77±1.49	N/A
			I/M area ratio	1.67±0.10	N/A
			% Luminal stenosis	86%±3%	N/A
Lee et al. (21)	20	Cephalic (n=15), basilic (n=5); all stenotic segments	Mean I/M thickness ratio	3.84±0.55	N/A
			Max. I/M thickness ratio	7.78±0.88	N/A
Tabbara et al. (2)	79	Basilic (n=74), brachial (n=5)	Max. I thickness	0.62 (0.38–0.86) mm	Lack of association with maturation failure (P=0.3); lack of association with primary unassisted patency (P=0.6)
			I/M area ratio	N/A	Lack of association with maturation failure (P=0.4); lack of association with primary unassisted patency (P=0.8)
Duque et al. (71)d	14	Basilic (n=12), brachial (n=2); all AVFs had stenotic and nonstenotic segments	I area	3.33 (1.94–4.86) mm2 in nonstenotic, 3.33 (2.29–5.16) mm2 in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.26)
			Min. I thickness	0.09 (0.05–0.31) mm in nonstenotic, 0.11 (0.05–0.43) mm in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.18)
			Max. I thickness	0.75 (0.54–1.08) mm in nonstenotic, 0.98 (0.78–1.20) mm in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.22)
			Min. IM thickness	0.37 (0.17–0.70) mm in nonstenotic, 0.30 (0.23–0.88) mm in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.22)
			Max. IM thickness	1.14 (0.84–1.38) mm in nonstenotic, 1.38 (1.30–1.57) mm in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.13)
			I/M area ratio	0.97 (0.63–1.18) in nonstenotic, 1.00 (0.70–1.20) in stenotic	Lack of association with focal stenosis (P=0.73)
Martinez et al. (3)	115	Basilic (n=97), brachial (n=14), cephalic (n=4)	I/M area ratio	0.77 (0.48–1.30)	Lack of association with maturation failure by itself (P=0.09, n=115), but significant association in AVFs with high medial fibrosis (P=0.04, n=58)

Ave., average; I, intima; N/A, not reported or studied; IM, intima plus media; max., maximum; I/M, intima/media; HFM, Hemodialysis Fistula Maturation; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; min., minimum.

^aNumber of veins analyzed after study exclusions.

^bValues presented as mean±SEM (SD in the HFM Study [5,52] and Allon et al. [6]), median (interquartile range), or range in Lazich et al. (19).

^cData obtained from Alpers et al. (5) and Cheung et al. (52).

^dPairwise comparison of stenotic and adjacent nonstenotic segments in upper-arm AVFs.