Hemodialysis Vascular Access Creation Course

This course is intended for doctors only (Phyiscal 2-day training organized in Mechelen, Belgium)

The population of patients on hemodialysis is growing worldwide due to demographic changes and increasing prevalence of elderly patients with multiple comorbidities. Vascular access creation for hemodialysis (HD) is nowadays an important part of the daily practice of the vascular surgeon and is more demanding to determine the strategy for the most optimal vascular access for the individual patient in terms of short and long­term function and low complication rate.

In this vascular access course, it is our intention to make young doctors familiar with the decision making process for HD vascular access and to improve technical skills in performing access surgery. Knowledge on vascular anatomy, type of vascular access and access complication treatment will be enhanced by lectures and case discussion.

In addition, basic and advanced operative techniques for vascular access creation and complication management will be learned, including the common types of AVF and AVG that are eligible for the individual patient. For this purpose, human cadaver models will be used.

The first day will be on theory of VA creation and complication management. Patient cases on these subjects will be discussed. The second day surgical techniques for common AVF and AVG will be trained on human cadavers.