Vascular Access

At the Regional Center of Excellence for Transplantation and Kidney Care, we’re pleased to offer an on-site Vascular Access Center (VAC) to make dialysis treatment easier and avoid unnecessary issues.

For a kidney dialysis patient, vascular access is critical to long-term success and survival. Based on the national average, a patient’s vascular access—a surgically created fistula or shunt—will require at least two interventions per year to maintain. Our VAC works to prevent access failure and to decrease dialysis complications, such as blood clots. Choosing the VAC can help coordinate your care, decrease your needs for urgent intervention, and avoid emergency department visits related to vascular access problems.

At the VAC, we customize programs for each patient for the creation and maintenance of all vascular access. Our maintenance program includes:

• A clinical exam
• Transonic flows to measure the efficiency of dialysis when applicable
• Noninvasive assessment with ultrasound

Additionally, since we know that our patients are committed to a kidney dialysis schedule, we aim to schedule ultrasounds and procedures in one visit for your convenience. You can return to your home dialysis unit with a functioning vascular access and a plan for follow-up maintenance.