Nephrology Vascular Lab

Vascular Access creation and maintenance for dialysis patients

Vascular Access ServicesDialysis access is an entranceway into your bloodstream that lies completely beneath your skin and is easy to use.The access is usually in your arm, but sometimes in the leg, and allows blood to be removed and returned quickly, efficiently, and safely during dialysis or, less commonly, for other procedures requiring access to your circulation. Creating the access portal is a minor surgical procedure.There are two types of portals placed completely under your skin: fistula, which your vascular surgeon constructs by joining an artery to a vein or a graft, which is a man-made tube, consisting of plastic or other material, that your vascular surgeon inserts under the skin to connect an artery to a vein.