Experience with covered stents for the management of hemodialysis polytetrafluoroethylene graft seromas.

Abstract

Prosthetic graft seromas is a rare complication that has been traditionally managed with open methods using partial graft replacement and open drainage. We report the first two cases of hemodialysis graft seromas successfully treated with a covered stent. Both patients underwent arteriovenous graft placement from the brachial artery to the axillary vein using a standard wall, tapered 4 to 7 mm polytetrafluoroethylene graft, but developed a seroma at the arterial end of the graft. Unsuccessful attempts were made to treat these seromas with percutaneous and open drainage. In both patients, an 8 mm x 50 mm Wallgraft (Boston Scientific, Natick, Mass) was retrogradely deployed "bareback" at the arterial end of the graft allowing for complete resolution of the graft seromas.