Vascular Accesses for Haemodialysis in the Upper Arm Cause Greater Reduction in the Carotid-Brachial Stiffness than Those in the Forearm: Study of Gender Differences

Table 2

Biomechanical mismatch among vascular substitutes and carotid-brachial pathways of CHP with AVF at the forearm or at the upper arm region.

(a)

	CHP with AVF in the forearm; (𝑛=20); Mean ± SD	CHP with AVF in the upper arm; (𝑛=18); Mean ± SD
Femoral artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	−17.00 ± 1.87	−21.60 ± 2.38 &
Versus upper limb without AVF	−13.54 ± 1.49*	−13.79 ± 1.52*
Brachial artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	1.13 ± 0.12	−3.65 ± 0.40 &
Versus upper limb without AVF	4.67 ± 0.51*	4.41 ± 0.49*
Carotid artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	15.77 ± 1.73	11.08 ± 1.22 &
Versus upper limb without AVF	19.21 ± 2.11*	18.96 ± 2.09*
Saphenous vein homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	−16.63 ± 1.83	−21.24 ± 2.34 &
Versus upper limb without AVF	−13.16 ± 1.45*	−13.42 ± 1.48*
ePTFE
Versus upper limb with AVF	−78.18 ± 8.60	−79.97 ± 8.80
Versus upper limb without AVF	−76.76 ± 8.44	−76.87 ± 8.46

(b)

	CHP with AVF in the upper arm; Females; (𝑛=10); Mean ± SD	CHP with AVF in the upper arm; Males; (𝑛=8); Mean ± SD
Femoral artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	−19.44 ± 2.14	−26.16 ± 2.88^$
Versus upper limb without AVF	−16.76 ± 1.84*	−8.29 ± 0.91^*$
Brachial artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	−1.39 ± 0.15	−8.47 ± 0.93^$
Versus upper limb without AVF	1.38 ± 0.15*	9.95 ± 1.09^*$
Carotid artery homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	13.30 ± 1.46	6.28 ± 0.96^$
Versus upper limb without AVF	16.01 ± 1.76*	24.27 ± 2.67^*$
Saphenous vein homograft
Versus upper limb with AVF	−19.07 ± 2.10	−25.81 ± 2.84^$
Versus upper limb without AVF	−16.39 ± 1.80*	−7.91 ± 0.87^*$
ePTFE
Versus upper limb with AVF	−79.14 ± 8.71	−81.64 ± 8.98
Versus upper limb without AVF	−78.08 ± 8.59	−74.49 ± 8.19

Mean value ± standard deviation (SD) (%). CHP: chronically haemodialysed patients. The biomechanical mismatch (BM) level ranges between 100 and −100. A BM = 0 represents an optimal matching; values far from 0 indicate an increasing BM. A negative BM (from 0 to −100) indicates that the vascular substitutes were stiffer with respect to the vascular pathway; a positive BM indicates the contrary.
Statistics.
* 𝑃<0.05 with respect to upper limb with AVF, for the same vascular substitute and group of subjects.
^&𝑃<0.05 with respect to CHP with AVF at the forearm, for the same vascular substitute and upper limb.
^$𝑃<0.05 with respect to CHP with AVF at the upper arm in females, for the same vascular substitute and upper limb.