Handheld Ultrasound-guided Cannulation of Difficult Haemodialysis Arteriovenous Access by Renal Nurses

Cannulation of complex arteriovenous fistula (AVF) or graft (AVG) is a challenge to renal nurses. Ultrasound (US) guidance on central and peripheral venous access visualisation has been widely adopted in nephrology and shown to reduce complications of vascular interventions. With broader adoption of handheld US devices in clinical services, renal nurses could acquire this point-of-care technique to increase the successful cannulation rate while facilitating confidence build-up during training and practice. We aim to evaluate the use of handheld US on difficult AVF/AVG cannulation in a hospital-based dialysis unit.

We conducted a prospective randomised controlled study from January 2021 to January 2022. Ten renal nurses were trained by an interventional nephrologist before patient recruitment and had completed a pre- and post-training questionnaire on their confidence level. Fifty haemodialysis patients with complex AVF were randomised to US-guided or conventional cannulation. The total time spent on cannulation and patients' pain scores were also collected.