Alik Farber, MD, professor of surgery and radiology at Boston University, is set to present the results of a multicenter U.S. study at the 2024 Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery (SCVS) annual meeting (March 16–20) in Scottsdale, Arizona, that...
Fresenius Medical Care announced the launch of its new augmented reality (AR) glasses and its accompanying application, Ready4 MultiFiltratePro AR, at the first day of the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (, 19–22 March, Brussels, Belgium). Developed for...
Medtronic has received a license from Health Canada for its Symplicity Spyral multi-electrode renal denervation (RDN) system. This is indicated for the management of essential hypertension in patients for whom blood pressure remains uncontrolled despite lifestyle modifications and guideline-driven medical...
At the most recent American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) annual scientific meeting (23–25 February 2024, New Orleans, USA), Victoria Teodorescu (Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA) gave a presentation as part of the Cut, Suture, and...
At the most recent American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) annual scientific meeting (23–25 February 2024, New Orleans, USA), Gerald Beathard (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, USA) closed out the first session with a presentation titled...
At this year’s American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) annual scientific meeting (23–25 February 2024, New Orleans, USA), outgoing president Vandana Dua Niyyar (Emory University, Atlanta, USA) used her president’s address to explore what the future looks...
February was a month of trials beginning enrolment, novel technologies, and treatment protocols, with Gianmarco Falcone emphasising the need for a full protocol and multidisciplinary team for endovascular arteriovenous fistulas (endoAVF), and the first subjects being enrolled in in...
Novo Nordisk has announced via press release the headline results from the kidney outcomes trial FLOW, coming after the decision to stop the trial early due to efficacy that was announced on 10 October 2023, based on a recommendation...
Fresenius Medical Care recently announced via press release that it has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new 5008X haemodialysis system, which they hope will allow them to “bring a new standard...
MultiOmic Health has partnered with the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) on a collaborative project to develop data-driven diagnostic tools for diabetic kidney disease (DKD). This project, which will take place over two years, is...
At the most recent Paris Vascular Insights (PVI) meeting (8–10 November 2023, Paris, France), Renal Interventions spoke to Gianmarco Falcone (Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy) about endovascular arteriovenous fistulas (endoAVF) and what he feels is needed to ensure...
At the beginning of November 2023, Alucent Biomedical announced via press release that it has received a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE) to conduct a US-based clinical study investigating its AlucentNVS technology, which is...
Invizius has announced in a press release that the first two patients have been treated with its H-Guard priming solution in the company’s first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester...
The REDUCED-1 study, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE)-approved pilot study of the treatment of hypertension with the proprietary Therapeutic Intra-Vascular Ultrasound (TIVUS) system (SoniVie), has completed enrolment. “Initial results from the ongoing REDUCED-1 study...
VenoStent has announced that the first subjects have been enrolled in the SAVE-FistulaS clinical trial, which will take place at two different sites across the USA; the Surgical Specialists of Charlotte. (Charlotte, USA), and the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons...
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered that immunosuppressant’s that are US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved—and that are currently in use for human-to-human transplants—are the optimal choices for an immunosuppression regime for pig-to-human...
Professor Sir Roy Calne, the surgeon who led a team that performed the first liver transplant in Europe, has died at the age of 93. The operation that he pioneered took place on 2 May 1968 at Addenbrooke’s Hospital...
It’s possible to expand the action radius of a passion for kitesurfing, despite being on long-term dialysis. Pascal Kopperschmidt (Hamburg, Germany) gave attendees at the 5th Hamburg Dialysis Access symposium (8–9 September 2023; Hamburg, Germany) a glimpse of the...
Dialysis access has seen an enormous multiplication of options for dialysis patients; specialised fistulas, endovascular fistulas, and new graft materials. This has brought the focus onto allied health members that carry out cannulation in the dialysis unit, namely nurses...
At the 2023 VEITHsymposium (14–18 November, New York, USA), the final day featured a dedicated programme entitled “Improving outcomes in haemodialysis access”, which was made up of five sessions, each covering a different area of haemodialysis access and featuring...
Speaking to Renal Interventions, Maarten Snoeijs (Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands), discussed his presentation at the Hamburg Dialysis Access symposium (8–9 September, 2023 Hamburg, Germany) which explored the possibilities that would be provided by a vascular access...
Renal Interventions reflects some unique perspectives and uncomfortable learnings from Yinhui-Lim Hartono, a resident new to the field of dialysis access, and Kathleen Rickert, a vascular access nurse, both from the vascular access center at Asklepios Klinik Barmbek (Hamburg,...
Koen van der Bogt is a vascular surgeon at Haaglanden Medical Centre (The Hague, The Netherlands) and Leiden University Medical Centre (Leiden, The Netherlands). Joris Rotmans is professor of internal medicine at Leiden University Medical Centre (Leiden, The Netherlands)....

Vandana Dua Niyyar

From beginning a career in medicine to collecting Agatha Christie’s works, professor of medicine at Emory University (Atlanta, USA) Vandana Dua Niyyar speaks to Renal Interventions about her career in interventional nephrology (IN), how she occupies her time between...
The first implantation of the VasQ external support device was performed in Greece, Laminate Medical Technologies announced in a press release. The procedure was successfully performed by Alexandros Mallios (Henry Dunant Hospital Center, Athens, Greece). Sharing his thoughts on the...
This advertorial is sponsored by VentureMed Group. Arteriovenous (AV) access is challenging and dial­ysis is hard on the body and the mind. It causes physical aches, pains, and changes in the body that rob patients of energy and strength.1 When...
Ozempic (Novo Nordisk) is a once-daily injection with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use as a preventative treatment for strokes and heart attacks in type 2 diabetic patients. Recently, however, the FLOW study has shown that...
“You have to have a balanced approach.” This was the core message from Vincent Rowe (University of California Los Angeles Health, Los Angeles, USA) during his pres­entation on paediatric haemodialysis access at the most recent VEITHsymposium (14–18 November, New...

Renal Interventions 10 – US

Highlights Insights into education surrounding Paediatric dialysis access highlighted by Vincent Rowe (Los Angeles, USA). Koen van der Bogt (Leiden, The Netherlands) and Joris Rotmans (Leiden, The Netherlands) explore the world of Dynamic Arteriovenous Fistulas (AVFs) PROFILE: Vandana Dua...

Renal Interventions 10 – EU

Highlights  Insights into education surrounding Paediatric dialysis access highlighted by Vincent Rowe (Los Angeles, USA).  Koen van der Bogt (Leiden, The Netherlands) and Joris Rotmans (Leiden, The Netherlands) explore the world of Dynamic Arteriovenous Fistulas (AVFs)  PROFILE: Vandana Dua...
An analysis of data from the SPYRAL HTN-ON MED trial of the Symplicity Spyral (Medtronic) radiofrequency denervation system for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension has found that the technique can be expected to provide “good value for money” as...
Laminate Medical has announced the first implantation of their VasQ device in the USA, performed by Ari Kramer (Spartanburg Regional Hospital, Spartanburg, USA). The VasQ technology was granted US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in September 2023, and...
SanReno Therapeutics has announced that it has been acquired by Novartis, becoming an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Novartis. The investors that helped found SanReno—including Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, Frazier Life Sciences, Samsara BioCapital, and Versant Ventures—have sold their equity...
HistoSonics, developer of a non-invasive platform and sonic beam therapy called histotripsy, has today announced the treatment of the first patient in its pivotal #HOPE4KIDNEY trial. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the investigational device study earlier...
CardioRenal and CHU Grenoble Alpes have announced an innovation that allows chronically ill patients to measure their blood potassium levels autonomously and accurately. The Tenor device enables patients to measure their blood potassium levels at home, similar to how diabetic...
At this year’s VEITHsymposium (14–18 November, New York, USA), Alexander Yevzlin (Azura Surgery Center, Madison, USA) gave a presentation on the EndoForce endovascular anastomotic connector (Phraxis), a novel device that provides an endovascular method of attaching an arteriovenous...
A new retrospective cohort observational study published in the journal Medicine by Maria Mirabela Manea (Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania) et al shows that, for thrombolysed stroke patients, the biggest risk for increased mortality is...
November was a month of demands for more vascular access (VA) training, novel technologies, and regulations, with Terry Litchfield highlighting the importance of compliance within practices and a new training course being announced at Newcastle University. Seven key...
In early October, Novo Nordisk announced they will stop the kidney outcomes trial FLOW at interim, after initial results and the recommendation from the independent data monitoring committee (DMC). Their recommendation concluded that the results from an interim analysis...
Roivios has announced that they have enrolled the final patient for the BIPASS-AKI study for the JuxtaFlow renal assist device (RAD). The American Heart Hospital in Bielsko Biala, Poland, The Institute for Cardiovascular Disease Dedinje, Serbia, and The Institute...
Summa Therapeutics, a specialty angioplasty balloon medical device company, announced today that its innovative line of injectable angioplasty balloon catheters has been cleared for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of peripheral artery...
Earlier this week, BD launched the SiteRite 9 ultrasound system (BD), designed to help clinicians improve efficiency when placing peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs), central venous catheters, IV lines and other vascular access devices. This new all-in-one system is designed...
In a recent presentation at the VEITHsymposium 2023 (14–18 November, New York, USA), Terry Litchfield (president, Access Solutions) outlined what she believes to be the key factors for ensuring effective compliance for vascular access providers. The first thing that must...
This year’s 2024 Chairing Cross (CX) Symposium (23–25 April, London, UK) will feature debates on the success of endovascular arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) alongside patient involvement and vascular access and renal intervention sessions among much more. The programme aims to...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved CorMedix’s DefenCath, the first and only antimicrobial catheter lock solution (CLS) in the USA to receive such an approval. DefenCath, which has been shown to reduce the risk of catheter-related...
Diality introduced its Moda-flx haemodialysis system on 4 November 2023 at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week meeting, where it was also the subject of a poster session titled ‘Blood flowrate accuracy with Diality haemodialysis systems’. Diality’s goal...
VentureMed has announced that they have been granted a transitional pass-through (TPT) payment category and a new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) C-code by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the FLEX vessel prep (FLEX...
Medtronic has announced approval from the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Symplicity Spyral renal denervation (RDN) system for the treatment of hypertension. The company has said that it will immediately begin commercialisation following the approval. “Medtronic has...
Xeltis has announced "highly encouraging" 12-month results from its first-in-human (FIH) aXess vascular conduit trial. The data were presented by Frans Moll (University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands) at this year's VEITHsymposium (14–18 November, New York, USA). At 12...
Data that was presented at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week meeting (2–5 November 2023, Philadelphia, USA) shows that patients who have ceased dialysis treatments “typically survive around one week”, with most patients dying in acute care...
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals have announced that they will be hosting a key opinion leader (KOL) panel discussion virtually to explore its lead candidate Niyad for use as an anticoagulant in dialysis circuits. The panel, which is taking place on 6...
A new study abstract from the University of Louisville, led by Adam E Gaweda (University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, Louisville, USA), was presented at the recent American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week meeting (1–5 November 2023, Philadelphia,...
Cordis has announced that its board of directors has appointed Scott Drake as chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately. Drake most recently held the position of executive chairman of the Cordis board of directors. He will succeed Shar Matin,...
Recor Medical has become the first company in the USA to have a device-based therapy approved for the treatment of hypertension, after it was announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company’s Paradise ultrasound...
In a presentation taking place at the latest Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) meeting (28–29 September, Birmingham, UK), Thomas Richards (University Hospital Sussex, Brighton, UK) gave a presentation outlining an abstract which states that over half...
A new validation study regarding the Klinrisk model—a machine-learning tool developed to predict the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression—has been conducted by Boehringer Ingelheim and Carelon Research. The novel artificial intelligence (AI) model was able to predict...
A new postgraduate certificate (PGCert) training course for interventional nephrology (IN) has become available at Newcastle University and, according to Saeed Ahmed (South Tyneside Sunderland Foundation Trust, Sunderland, UK), this course will meet an urgent need for more training...
The Fresenius Medical Care 2008 Series haemodialysis machine recall has been issued with a class I label—the most serious type of recall—by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recall was initiated in late 2022, when concerns were...
A team at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Engineering, led by Maria Grazia De Angelis (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK), are working on creating a wearable haemodialysis machine with the use of an alternative ‘smart’ filtration system, which...
Earlier this month, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) announced the five recipients of the 2023 NKF Young Investigator Research Grant Programme.  The programme recognises young researchers who have demonstrated "commitment, promise and innovation", providing funding for their continued work...
Reflecting on their recent meeting, what makes them unique and what changes have occurred since the last meeting, the leadership of Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) feel that the keys to the continued growth of vascular...
Invizius, a biotechnology company developing treatments for patients on dialysis, announced today the appointment of Bernard Canaud to its clinical advisory board.  Canaud brings with him over 40 years of experience as an authority in the field of kidney disease...
A new study published in JAMA Network Open earlier this month has suggested that children who have previously received liver or kidney transplants were, when given live vaccinations, found to be safe and prompted an immune response to measles,...
 “We wanted to find a common language between interventional radiologists and nephrologists and we wanted to be sure that the angioplasty we have done has a functional improvement”, associate professor of interventional radiology, Stavros Spiliopoulos (Athens, Greece) speaks to...
Roger Malcolm Greenhalgh, the surgeon internationally renowned for his unparalleled contribution to vascular education, training and research, died peacefully on 6th October, aged 82. At the time of his death, he was emeritus Professor of Surgery at Imperial College...
Laminate Medical Technologies has announced their flagship device, the VasQ External Vascular Support, has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use to create arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) for dialysis access. The device, designated by the...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Jardiance (empagliflozin) 10mg tablets to reduce the risk of sustained decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), end-stage kidney disease, cardiovascular death and hospitalisation in adults with chronic kidney disease...
Aiosyn has announced the release of an artificial intelligence (AI) kidney suite designed to advance research in the field of renal disease. Leveraging deep-learning technology, the solution provides biopharma and research organisations with tools for analysing kidney structures and quantifying...
Inorganic nitrate reduces contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), improves renal outcomes and reduces cardiac events compared to placebo in patients at risk of renal injury undergoing coronary angiography for acute coronary syndrome. This was the conclusion presented by Dan Jones (Queen Mary...
This advertorial is sponsored by Medtronic Hypertension is a leading cause of heart attack, stroke and death, impacting more than 1.2 billion adults worldwide. For decades, the frontline treatment for this condition has been a varying combination of pharmacotherapy and...
Research presented at the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) congress (17–20 September, Athens, Greece) demonstrates that neonatal kidney transplantation can offer a “game-changing” solution to the pressing organ shortage crisis. To assess the feasibility of neonatal organ donation, researchers...
A research team led by Mathijs van Oevelen (Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands) has examined health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing haemodialysis according to age. Their findings suggest that patients who are ≥70...
Oncorena announces first patient treated in the Phase I/II trial of the first-in-class compound, ONC175 (orellanine), in patients with metastatic renal cancer and dialysis. The first treatment was conducted on 8 August without any complication at the Center for Clinical Cancer...
Complications such as central venous occlusion (CVO) and stenoses are among the “challenging” issues that can occur in haemodialysis patients. Now, a group of researchers led by Shimon Aronhime (Shamir Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Beer Yaakov, Israel) have...

Kate Steiner

From choosing her specialty to competing in dressage, interventional radiology (IR) lead at East and North Herts NHS Trust (Stevenage, UK) Kate Steiner speaks to Renal Interventions on her career in IR, her inspirations in and outside of the...
Not enough diabetes patients are getting their recommended kidney health screenings, according to a new study by the US National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). According to new data published in the journal Mayo Clinic...
XORTX Therapeutics, a late-stage clinical pharmaceutical company focused on developing “innovative therapies to treat progressive kidney disease”, has announced in a press release that it has submitted an orphan drug designation (ODD) application for Xorlo to the European Medicines Agency...
Vizient has announced the publication of its first public report on care utilisation and quality in the USA using data from Medicare's Data Sharing for Performance Measurement, also known as the Qualified Entity Program (QEP). The report, “Measuring care utilization...
Scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) are working on a new approach to treating kidney failure that could one day free people from needing dialysis or having to take immunosuppressants after a transplant. They have shown for...
This advertorial is sponsored by BD. Focusing on the disease through the patient’s lens, establishing well-functioning multidisciplinary teams, to potentially enhance both the patient’s journey and clinical outcomes got top billing at BD’s second EMEA End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) Summit...
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has designated three new approved bodies to increase the country’s capacity to certify medical devices. TÜV SÜD, Intertek, and TÜV Rheinland UK join the four current UK Approved Bodies, almost doubling...
Teleflex Incorporated has announced the release of the Arro ErgoPack Complete Kits with haemodialysis and large bore catheters in the USA. This update is intended to “streamline insertion workflow for clinicians and provide more options to suit their needs”,...

Renal Interventions 9 – US

Highlights Patient perspectives highlighted in conversation with representatives Vivian Papageorgiou and Phil West. Endo Vascular Access Meeting 2023 (EVA; 23–24 June, Patras, Greece) coverage looks forward to future of the field. PROFILE: Kate Steiner Sustainability in kidney care among...

Renal Interventions 9 – EU

Highlights Patient perspectives highlighted in conversation with representatives Vivian Papageorgiou and Phil West. Endo Vascular Access Meeting 2023 (EVA; 23–24 June, Patras, Greece) coverage looks forward to future of the field. PROFILE: Kate Steiner Sustainability in kidney care among...
A renal disease diagnosis is “a shock at any age”, and its “huge impact” on the lives of patients and their families is something that takes time to process. Doctors should engage better with patients and help to talk...
This advertorial is sponsored by Merit Medical. Maintaining an arteriovenous fistula/graft (AVF/AVG) is essential for long-term vascular access. However, over time, complications such as stenoses and occlusions can develop and may be life-threatening if not adequately addressed. Endovascular solutions to...
The largest study ever conducted of patients with peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) utilising a subcutaneous anchoring securement system (SASS) has found that using subcutaneous anchors to secure catheters is more effective than using adhesive securement devices (ASD). The retrospective...
The third EVA Meeting (23–24 June, Patras, Greece) sought to build on international collaboration and science, one of the stated aims of the meeting directors, Dimitrios Karnabatidis, Konstantinos Katsanos and Panos Kitrou (University of Patras, Patras, Greece). With the...
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) has welcomed the review of scientific data related to the premarket approval applications for two renal denervation systems, describing this as a “step forward to advancing access to additional therapies for...
A simple blood test may predict the risk of progressive kidney and heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, according to new research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. “High levels of certain biomarkers are indicators of...
Drug-induced acute kidney injury (DI-AKI) is “challenging to distinguish” from other types of AKI even for “experienced nephrologists”, yet this adverse drug event (ADE) affects 14–26% of the hospitalised adult population in the USA. So say the authors of...
Calliditas Therapeutics has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a submission for a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Tarpeyo (budesonide) delayed release capsules, and has granted priority review. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act...
A new study published in Kidney360 has examined the efficacy potential of a new programme aimed at providing “automated, scalable, digital counselling” to chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. The ODYSSEE Kidney Health (ODYSSEE-KH) programme aims to enhance kidney patients’...
  Quanta Dialysis Technologies has announced that it has completed enrolment of its Home Run study for at-home haemodialysis. The Home Run study is a prospective, multi-centre, open-label trial to assess the efficacy and safety of the Quanta Dialysis System...
Surgeons at New York University (NYU) Langone Health (New York, USA) have transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney that continues to function well after 32 days in a man declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating...
Tonix Pharmaceuticals has announced the initiation of a Phase 1 single ascending dose escalation study of TNX-1500 (Fc-modified humanized anti-CD40L monoclonal antibody or mAb), a drug aimed at preventing rejection of transplanted kidneys, in healthy volunteers. The primary objectives...
Maturation of an arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) fails to occur for 20–60% of patients who have one created for haemodialysis access, and there is a need for better interventions to raise these rates. So say the authors of new research...
July was a month of acute kidney injury (AKI) updates and regulatory shifts, with empagliflozin winning European Medicines Agency approval and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "lowering the red flag" on paclitaxel. ESVS vessel diameter guidelines do...
Panos Kitrou is a consultant interventional radiologist at Patras University Hospital (Patras, Greece). He writes to set out "the need for a benchmark volume flow (VF) measurement for every vascular access". Normal function of a vascular access, either an arteriovenous...
Alucent Biomedical has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an investigational device exemption (IDE) for a US clinical study of AlucentNVS, a light-activated, drug-coated balloon catheter technology. AlucentNVS combines an intravascular device with a photochemical process to...
MedAlliance has announced completion of patient enrolment in the SAVE clinical trial with the Selution Sustained Limus Release (SLR) 018 drug-eluting balloon (DEB) for the treatment of failed arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) in renal dialysis patients. Selution SLR is a...
A FIDELITY posthoc analysis of the results of the combined finerenone randomised controlled trials (RCTs) has found that the drug is as effective for treating chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Hispanic patient populations as...
Xeltis has announced the closing of an additional €12.5 million in funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, set up by the European Commission. Today’s extension from EIC and the closure of the Series D2 financing round announced in...
Researchers at the University of Bristol have made a “remarkable step forward” in finding a potential cure for a type of childhood kidney disease. The research project has shown that just one dose of gene therapy targeting cells in the...
“The mortality rate for haemodialysis patients,” say the authors of a new study in Kidney Medicine, “remains unacceptably high.” Identifying interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) as a potential target for improving that rate, they considered ways to reduce it by...
New research led by Jennifer Motter (New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA) has investigated the link between human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-incompatible kidney donation and the development of different forms of cancers. Among other findings, it...
In a research letter submitted to the editor of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD), investigators including lead Zeenia Aga and corresponding author Jeffrey Perl (both St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada) argue that drain pain is a complication...
Ali Kordzadeh is a consultant vascular and access surgeon at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (UK) and a visiting professor at Anglia Ruskin University (Chelmsford, UK). The global burden of kidney disease has made dialysis a critical lifeline...
Humacyte, a clinical-stage biotechnology platform company developing "universally implantable, bioengineered human tissue at commercial scale", has announced in a press release the publication of controlled in vitro studies in the Journal of Vascular Surgery—Vascular Science describing the scientific basis for the “significantly...
New research published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation has found that fatigue, concentration issues, and social disengagement are among the problems experienced by kidney transplant recipients with poor sleep. It has also found that these factors—combined with worse health-related quality...
A survey recently conducted by Medtronic and the US National Kidney Foundation (NKF) found that patients undergoing haemodialysis lack awareness about minimally invasive treatment options for creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF). The survey of more than 400 dialysis...
Existing guidelines’ recommendations for vascular access planning are mainly based on glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) changes. With “optimal timing for vascular access referral and placement” often “debatable”, however, the authors of new research published in the Journal of Vascular...
Quanta Dialysis Technologies has announced that it has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for an expanded indication of the Quanta dialysis system, a “compact and easy-to-use” haemodialysis device, for two modalities of continuous renal replacement...
A new preclinical study, led by scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, USA), shows that a new technology called mitochondrial transplantation holds promise as a potential therapy that could change the kidney transplant landscape. The study findings...
Merit Medical has announced that is has completed enrolment in its WRAPSODY Arteriovenous Access Efficacy (WAVE) pivotal study. Merit’s WAVE study is a prospective, randomised, controlled, multicentre study comparing the Merit WRAPSODY cell-impermeable endoprosthesis (CIE) to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty...
One talk at UK Kidney Week (4–7 June, Newport, Wales) moved the conference conversation onto the subject of sustainability, with Venkata Gullapudi (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK) putting nephrology’s carbon footprint under the microscope with the presentation...
The publication in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) of new research on haemodiafiltration comes following a series of inconclusive prior studies. Lead author Peter J Blankestijn (University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands) and colleagues note that...
Why do more patients not choose haemodialysis at home? That was the question Leah McLaughlin (Bangor University, Bangor, UK) sought to answer for the audience at UK Kidney Week 2023 (5–7 June, Newport, UK) with a presentation on recent...
Pathfinder Medical has been awarded a Smart grant for a £1.1 million (US$1.4 million) project by Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency. A press release details that the grant will support Pathfinder’s novel project to develop a minimally invasive...
Invizius has announced that it has received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to commence its first-in-human clinical study of its lead product, H-Guard. The study will be conducted at the Manchester University Hospitals...
The “urgent development of transplant-specific anaemia guidelines” and a need for “rigorous patient blood management (PBM)” for those who receive kidney transplants—these are among the recommendations from authors of new research published in Frontiers in Nephrology on the prevalence...
A “major breakthrough in kidney transplantation”—that is how imlifidase has been described in new French consensus guidelines on the drug’s use that have been published in Transplant International. The publication follows the 2020 conditional marketing authorisation of imlifidase by...
IceCure Medical, developer of the ProSense system, a minimally-invasive cryoablation technology that destroys tumours by freezing as an alternative to surgical tumour removal, has announced that Health Canada, the Canadian government's regulatory agency, has approved the system, its disposable...
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the US National Kidney Foundation (NKF) have expressed concern that the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Final Research Agenda for chronic kidney disease (CKD) screening “continues to focus on screening only of asymptomatic,...
The European Commission (EC) has approved Jardiance (empagliflozin) for the treatment of adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company has announced. The approval, states a press release, “has the potential to advance the standard of...
Medical device company Access Vascular has announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study of its HydroPICC peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine. The retrospective study found that HydroPICC “significantly reduced” clot formation...
Based on findings from a new study published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and three collaborating medical institutions suggest that people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who donate a...
New research co-led by Matthias Kretzler (Michigan Medicine University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, USA) outlines the creation of a cellular atlas of the kidney describing nearly 100 cell types and states. It represents, states a press release, “the most comprehensive study...
New research has been published in Hemodialysis International which, say its authors, “enhances understanding” of how haemodialysis centres can utilise oral roxadustat. The anaemia drug is licensed for use in the European Union (EU), the UK, and other markets,...
Advocates from the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) are at the Capitol in Washington DC (USA) today urging the US Congress to implement reforms that, they say in a press release, “will help maximise access to transplant care for...
Gilead Sciences has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for the use of Veklury (remdesivir) in COVID-19 patients with severe renal impairment, including those on dialysis. With this approval,...
ProKidney, a late clinical-stage cellular therapeutics company focused on chronic kidney disease (CKD), has announced the appointment of Bruce Culleton as executive vice president of clinical development and commercialisation. Culleton, who will report to CEO Tim Bertram, joins ProKidney...
The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest independent kidney patient organisation in the USA, and its strategic partner, the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS; Washington DC, USA), have hosted their Fifth Annual Global Summit on Kidney...
Patients who engage in light exercise while undergoing dialysis are physically fitter and are admitted to hospital less frequently than those who do not. These are the findings of a large-scale study conducted by a consortium led by the...
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is considered by many to cause accelerated loss of kidney function—but, according to the authors of new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, changes in research focus, practice patterns, and public health targets...
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted a positive opinion recommending Jardiance (empagliflozin) for the treatment of adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and...
Hansa Biopharma has announced that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved Idefirix (imlifidase) as desensitisation treatment for highly sensitised patients prior to kidney transplantation from both living and deceased donors. The provisional approval has a duration...
Following yesterday's news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has changed its stance on the use of paclitaxel-coated devices to treat peripheral arterial disease (PAD), Boston Scientific has announced its position on the update. The company's full...
Verve Medical has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate its Natural Orifice via renal pelvis denervation (NOVEL-Denervation) pivotal investigational device exemption (IDE) trial for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension to lower blood pressure. The...
Researchers including lead Muhammad Asghar and corresponding author Andrew D Rule (both Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA) have published the results of a study comparing the risk assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression using age-based thresholds for nephrosclerosis against...
In a letter to healthcare providers dated 11 July 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communicates that the risk of mortality associated with paclitaxel-coated devices to treat peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is no longer supported based on...
Conventional haemodialysis (CHD) consists of three four-hour sessions a week, but a more regular daily haemodialysis (DHD) regimen of six three-hour sessions a week can improve cardiovascular health in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. This is according to recent...
Bayer has announced the initiation of FINE-ONE, a global, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group Phase III study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new investigational use of finerenone versus placebo in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD)...
A campaign to reshape kidney care within the National Health Service (NHS) in England was the subject of a centrepiece session at the recent UK Kidney Week event in Wales (5–7 June, Newport, UK), with a host of speakers...
June saw a variety of stories from across the renal world, including an in-depth interview with two of the authors of the new UK Kidney Association (UKKA) vascular access guideline, as well as arteriovenous fistula (AVF) updates and industry...
Makana Therapeutics has announced that it has been awarded an Artificial Kidney Phase II Prize from KidneyX to continue development of its genetically engineered donor pigs for use in kidney transplantation. The Kidney Innovation Accelerator or KidneyX is a...
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of health complications and death among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer, where AYAs are characterised as patients between the ages of 15 and 39. Now, a new study from the...
The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published new technology appraisal guidance on the use of finerenone in the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with type 2 diabetes. The guidance recommends the drug,...
The European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) guidelines on vascular access recommend minimal diameters of 2mm in the forearm and 3mm in the upper arm in vessels selected for the creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF). Whether this recommendation...
Renalytix has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted De Novo marketing authorisation for its KidneyIntelX.dkd prognostic test for chronic kidney disease (CKD). This, the company says in a press release “affirms KidneyIntelX as a...
Researchers behind a new study published in the Annals of Vascular Surgery, among them lead author Laura Anderson and corresponding author Benjamin Brooke (both University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, USA), have found that severe obesity risks a...
The day when a urine test can inform a doctor precisely why a kidney transplant patient is experiencing organ rejection, and help to suggest the best medication for specifically addressing the problem, has become “a step closer to reality”...
Published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), a new report has examined the timing of initiation of kidney replacement therapy (KRT), including both dialysis and transplantation, in children and young adults. The findings of...
Akebia Therapeutics has announced topline results from IMPACT, a phase 4 collaborative study investigating the impact of Auryxia (ferric citrate) when used as the primary phosphate-lowering therapy, on the utilisation of erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) and intravenous (IV) iron as...
The Vascular Annual Meeting 2023 (14–17 June, National Harbor, USA) recently featured the presentation of new data on an external support device that may deliver more functional arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) while also offering an improvement in cost-effectiveness. Presenting an...
A new study in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation has examined the relationship between metabolic disorder (MetS) and adverse outcomes in recipients of kidney transplants. The national prospective cohort study was designed by a team led by Yu Ho Lee (Cha...
A study of more than 8 million adults in Ontario, Canada has suggested that even a modest loss of kidney function is associated with increased health risks. The research, published in The British Medical Journal (BMJ), could lead to better...
Drug-eluting stents have been examined in a variety of recent studies for the treatment of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) stenosis and failure, from 2018 research by Scott Trerotola (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA) and colleagues to that of Narayan Karunanithy...
A new patient-guided intervention using telemedicine to treat the side effects of dialysis including fatigue and depression has delivered “results that persist for several months after the intervention ends” in a randomised clinical trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers...
Fresenius Medical Care has reported its participation in research that it says demonstrates that the mortality rate among kidney failure patients can be significantly reduced through the utilisation of high-dose haemodiafiltration technology. Conducted by the CONVINCE consortium and led...
AWAK Technologies and Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have announced the launch of a pre-pivotal clinical trial with the enrolment of their first subject to study the safety and efficacy of an “improved” Automated Wearable Artificial Kidney Peritoneal Dialysis (AWAK...
Recent studies have evaluated drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatments’ ability to help maintain arteriovenous fistula (AVF) patency for haemodialysis patients “with mixed results”, according to Mu-Yang Hsieh (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan). However, he and co-authors including...
The recent haemodialysis access guideline update from the UK Kidney Association (UKKA), which was published in the run-up to the 2023 UK Kidney Week conference (UKKW; 5–7 June, Newport, UK), marks a considerable shift in how the organisation recommends...
Invizius, a biotechnology company developing second generation therapies for a range of complement-driven autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, has announced that it has recruited its 300th patient to its 'angry blood' study, CompAct-HD. This, it says, is a “significant milestone”...
The results of a new study in the Annals of Vascular Surgery suggest that patients who also have a tunnelled dialysis catheter (TDC) do not significantly benefit from receiving a brachiocephalic fistula (BCF) compared with a radiocephalic fistula (RCF).  First...
Merit Medical Systems has announced that it has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of dialysis catheter products and the BioSentry biopsy tract sealant system. “We are selectively investing to expand our product portfolio in key strategic markets that leverage...
A new study by Columbia University Irving Medical Centre (CUIMC; New York, USA) researchers has found that some US centres routinely skip their highest-ranking waitlisted candidates to give donor kidneys to a lower-ranked patient. This practice, known as “list...
AlloVir, a late-clinical stage allogeneic T cell immunotherapy company, has announced the presentation of final results from a Phase 2 study of posoleucel, an investigational, allogeneic, off-the-shelf, multi-virus-specific T cell (VST) therapy, being studied for the treatment of BK...
In a new retrospective cohort study, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC; Boston, USA) have examined the effects of the treatment of elevated blood pressure in more than 66,000 older adults who were hospitalised for non-cardiac conditions....
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released draft guidance with updated recommendations for good clinical practices (GCPs) aimed at modernising the design and conduct of clinical trials. In a statement, the regulator said that the updates are intended...
Teleflex has announced in a press release that the Arrow EZ-IO Needle is the first and only intraosseous (IO) needle to receive 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for magnetic resonance (MR) conditional labelling. The EZ-IO...
The advent of endovascular arteriovenous fistula (endoAVF) creation with the development of the Ellipsys (Medtronic) and WavelinQ (BD) systems marks a “major innovation in dialysis access”— and a “mounting evidence base” demonstrates their high functional patency rates. So said...
Medtronic has announced that Ken Washington has been appointed chief technology and innovation officer. Washington joins Medtronic from Amazon where he served as vice president and general manager of consumer robotics, and will lead technology development across industries including robotics,...
Wei Li (SUNY Upstate Medical University & Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, USA) and Mareena Zachariah (Texas Tech Univer­sity Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, USA) write to outline their vision for a new interventional nephrology programme. Emerging in 1966 when pioneers...
Katie Wong is a clinical research fellow at the University College London Depart­ment of Renal Medicine (London, UK). She details some of the research on rare kidney diseases that will be outlined at UK Kidney Week (UKKW; 5–7 June,...
May saw comprehensive coverage of the 2023 Charing Cross Symposium (CX 2023; 25–27 April, London, UK), with deep dives into cost effectiveness and endovascular arteriovenous fistulas (endoAVFs). Elsewhere, peritoneal dialysis and follow-up took the focus. How effective is cost...
Andrew Frankel, consultant physi­cian and nephrologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (London, UK), writes to set out the process behind the new guideline from the UK Guideline Group on sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) in kidney disease...
Research published in Kidney International Reports has found that the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) language model (OpenAI) fails to consistently provide accurate answers to clinical questions in the treatment of glomerular disease. Though it recently achieved an “impressive” score...
Pathalys Pharma and Launch Therapeutics have announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the PATH (PTH Attenuation Trial in Hemodialysis) clinical programme, consisting of two identical phase 3 trials, to assess upacicalcet for the treatment of secondary...
A team of researchers led by Shaifali Sandal (McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada) has shared the results of a study evaluating a new risk model for predicting “inferior patient and graft outcomes” in those who receive a kidney...

Daniel Patel

American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) certification and accreditation chairman Daniel Patel is the medical director for interventional nephrology at the Volusia-Flagler Vascular Center, which he founded in his hometown of Daytona Beach, USA. He speaks to...

Renal Interventions 8

Highlights: New UK Kidney Association guidelines on vascular access detailed in conversation with two of its authors, Damien Ashby and Catherine Fielding CX Symposium 2023 coverage, featuring cost effectiveness debates and IN.PACT AV first-time subanalysis data PROFILE: Daniel Patel ...
Published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS), new research by Theodore H Yuo (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, USA) and others has drawn a favourable comparison on maturation rates between endovascular arteriovenous fistulas (endoAVF) and surgical AVF...
A new retrospective cohort analysis published in Hemodialysis International has found that dialysis patients who gain weight in long intervals between dialysis sessions risk elevated mortality rates and quicker decline in kidney function. The authors of the study, including...
Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma and Cara Therapeutics have announced that England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Kapruvia (difelikefalin) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic kidney disease (CKD)-associated pruritus in adult patients on haemodialysis....
Researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (La Jolla, California) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China) have developed a computational approach to predict whether a person with type 2 diabetes will develop kidney disease....
Endovascular arteriovenous fistula (endoAVF) creation marks a “major innovation in dialysis access”, while a “mounting evidence base” demonstrates their high functional patency rates. Now, new technologies promise to improve outcomes and expand the population of patients that can benefit...
“Absolutely novel and exciting”—that is how Frans Moll (University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands) has described the aXess haemodialysis vascular graft as he reviewed the findings from a first-in-human trial at the 2023 Charing Cross Symposium (25–27 April,...
The DBB-EXA dialysis machine (Nikkiso) consistently underestimates vascular access (VA) flow rates compared with the Transonic technique of measurement—that is the conclusion of a new study in the Journal of Vascular Access which has compared the two methods. The report,...
For patients with kidney stones measuring 1–2cm centimetres, a technique called mini-percutaneous nephrolithotomy (mini-PCNL) provides a higher stone elimination rate than another ureteroscopy, concludes a randomised trial in The Journal of Urology. “In our clinical trial, mini-PCNL was more...
Michael Casey is a transplant nephrologist and Derek DuBay is a transplant surgeon at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, USA). They write to discuss a new intervention for making provision of kidney care in the USA more...
An association has been found between early follow-up evaluation in the wake of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation procedures and reduced time to successful cannulation for dialysis by the authors of a report in the Annals of Vascular Surgery.   First author...
Attendees at the 2023 Charing Cross (CX) Symposium (25–27 April, London, UK) renal interventions session were treated to two presentations exploring the issue of cost effectiveness in renal care—and whether it should take priority over outcomes. In the corner...
Judges of the CX 2023 Dragon’s Den-style contest—the finale of the Charing Cross (CX) Symposium (25–27 April, London, UK) Innovation Showcase programme—described the field of entrants to this year’s edition of the competition as the strongest line-up in its...
Renalytix has announced the release of new real-world evidence case studies published in the peer reviewed journal Diabetic Nephropathy entitled: “The Need for Risk Stratification in Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease: Proposed Clinical Value of KidneyIntelX”. The...
It has been suggested by some, such as Khalid Bashar (University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, Ireland) et al in the International Journal of Surgery in 2015, that cephalic veins smaller than 3mm in diameter used for arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are...
Xeltis has presented “highly-encouraging” six-month data from its first-in-human (FIH) aXess vascular graft trial at the 13th Congress of the Vascular Access Society (VAS; 27–29 April, Porto, Portugal). A press release outlines that six-month data from the FIH trial found...
The vascular access masterclass session on Tuesday saw a first-to-podium presentation by Andrew Holden (Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand) in which he presented new data from the IN.PACT AV Access trial of the IN.PACT AV (Medtronic) drug-coated balloon...
Care of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is complex, involving many decisions that are not exclusively based upon patient outcomes, writes Brian Rifkin (Hattiesburg Clinic, Hattiesburg, USA)    Doctors are human (OK, Captain Obvious). We...
April was a month of dialysis analysis and AVF updates, with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) also associated with adverse limb events in a new study and fistula reuse urged at the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery (SCVS) 50th Annual...
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) has a number of advantages over haemodialysis—yet with a few exceptions, it is underutilised in most countries. So went the argument of transplant surgeon Frank Dor (Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK) when he spoke as part of...

Neghae Mawla

Neghae Mawla (Dallas Nephrology Associates, Dallas, USA) of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) is an interventional nephrologist (IN) and a passionate advocate for the specialty. He speaks to Renal Interventions to explore interventional nephrology’s unique...
Highlights First-in-human study of a regenerative material for dialysis access demonstrates initial safety and mechanical durability. Interventional nephrology's place in kidney care explored following Twitter controversy. PROFILE: Neghae Mawla (Dallas, USA) American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN)...
Highlights First-in-human study of a regenerative material for dialysis access demonstrates initial safety and mechanical durability. Interventional nephrology's place in kidney care explored following Twitter controversy. PROFILE: Neghae Mawla (Dallas, USA) American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN)...
In a Podium First presentation during the vascular access masterclass at Charing Cross (CX) Symposium 2023 (25–27 April, London, UK), Frans Moll (University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands) provided the audience with an update on the novel Axess graft...
The renal interventions session at Charing Cross (CX) Symposium 2023 (25–27 April, London, UK) yielded a rich vein of education and audience participation on everything from stent positioning to interventional training. With speakers including Matthew Gibson (Berkshire Imaging, Reading,...
Juniper Research's Future Digital Awards 2023 has announced Healthy.io as the platinum winner for 'Best Digital Diagnostics Solution' in the Digital Health Innovation category for its Minuteful Kidney test. Since 2008, says a Healthy.io press release, the Future Digital Awards...
Akebia Therapeutics has announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitor for the treatment of symptomatic anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adults on...
Though Black patients are “well-represented” in nephrology trials in the USA, Asian patients are insufficiently represented in both US and international studies. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the Journal of the American Society of...
The Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery (SCVS) 50th Annual Symposium (25–29 March, Miami, USA) hosted a series of abstract presentations. Among them was one by Bianca Mulaney and colleagues including Elizabeth George (both Stanford University, Stanford, USA) on the...
IceCure, developer of the minimally-invasive cryoablation ProSense System which has shown promise in the treatment of renal masses, has announced that it has been used in a single-site study conducted at the Sorbonne University Department of Interventional Radiology and...
“Recycle that vein!”—that was the appeal from the authors of a new study that trialled the explantation of mature arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) from patients with venous outflow obstruction in one extremity and translocation of them to the contralateral extremity....
A new study published in Hemodialysis International has found that minimum staffing regulations for haemodialysis facilities may not be associated with improved patient outcomes. Led by Allan Jacob (Physicians Dialysis, Miami, USA) and featuring corresponding author Edward Timmons (West...
The main results of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonism in Diabetic Atherosclerosis (MAGMA) trial, a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-sponsored trial have been presented at the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Spring Clinical Meetings...
During the National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) Spring Clinical Meetings (11–15 April, Austin, USA), researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, USA) will present new data highlighting long-term outcomes for cynomolgus macaques transplanted with kidney xenografts from porcine donors harbouring genetic...
Outset Medical, the medical technology company responsible for the Tablo haemodialysis system, has presented five new abstracts that promise insights on the clinical and financial benefits of home haemodialysis (HHD), gender biases toward female nephrologists and other topics related...
More patients undergoing maintenance haemodialysis for kidney disease have expressed a preference for a comfort-focused treatment over one that lengthens their life as much as possible in a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The findings suggest “important...
Humacyte, a clinical-stage biotechnology platform company developing universally implantable bioengineered human tissue at commercial scale, has announced that it has completed enrolment of a Phase 3 trial in haemodialysis access. The V007 trial is designed to assess the...
AstraZeneca has announced that it will showcase five real-world evidence (RWE) studies from its cardiovascular, renal and metabolism (CVRM) portfolio, reinforcing its commitment, it says, to advancing science in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hyperkalaemia, at the National Kidney...
The month of March brought PAVE-2 updates, preservation debates and an assessment of the best options in marginal veins. A series of transplant updates, meanwhile, examined the need for pre-emptive living donor kidney transplantation as well as the heightened...
A new proteomic risk model for cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients has been found to be more accurate than current methods of measuring cardiac risk, according to a new study led by researchers in the Perelman...
The AVeNEW study, a 24-month multicentre, international, prospective and randomised clinical trial has published results investigating percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) compared to PTA with placement of a covered stent for the treatment of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) stenosis. The covered stent...
In a new study looking at the long-term effects of hospitalised patients who have acute kidney injury (AKI), Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, USA) researchers found that higher levels of certain biomarkers in urine and blood can predict a patient’s...
A new investigation into the association between end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and major adverse limb events (MALEs) has found that not only is it strong, but ESRD is particularly associated with below-knee amputation. The details of the study were...
The kidney plays a vital role in maintaining homeostasis within the body by eliminating toxic and superfluous substances in the bloodstream, including waste generated during metabolic processes, through urine. Nevertheless, toxicity can also be induced in the kidney from...
Medtronic and DaVita have announced the launch of Mozarc Medical—an independent new company that, they state in a press release, is “committed to reshaping kidney health and driving patient-centred technology solutions”. “Mozarc Medical's focus will be on meaningful and innovative...
Led by Hyangkyoung Kim (Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea) and featuring corresponding author Hoon Suk Park (The Catholic University of Korea School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea), a study published in Hemodialysis International has found that...
Michael Aragon (End Stage Renal Disease Network 14, Dallas, USA) writes here to assess how home haemodialysis can offer improvements to patients’ freedom—as well as their outcomes. For decades, life-preserving dialysis treatment has been perceived and experienced by end-stage renal...
The Saturday morning session of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) 19th Annual Scientific Meeting (17–19 February, Orlando, USA) played host to a stimulating debate between Edgar Lerma (University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA) and...
Michael Robson and Narayan Karunanithy (King’s College London, London, UK) write to explore the range of options in drug-coated balloons (DCBs) for stenosis in arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs). Highlighting the upcoming PAVE-2 trial, they assess the evidence from a range...
Metabolic changes related to an enzyme “helper molecule”—called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)—may serve as the basis for a future treatment or preventive measure for kidney disease, according to a discovery by a new study led by researches in the...
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are often considered the “gold standard” of evidence on which to base clinical decision-making, but, asked Theodore Saad (Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Philadelphia, USA), the first secretary and past-president of the American Society of Diagnostic...
Autogenous fistulas offer advantages to haemodialysis patients, long-term survival and low rates of complication among them. But failed or slow maturation as well as the risk of early thrombosis frequently “offset” these advantages and result in the use instead...
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has issued a press release welcoming the significant changes to the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)—a sweeping “OPTN Modernisation Initiative”—announced today by US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administrator Carole...
Alio, the medical technology company behind the SmartPatch device for chronic disease, has announced its latest US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. The company’s second clearance added three additional metrics to its remote patient monitoring platform—haematocrit, haemoglobin and...
  Procyrion, a medical device company which aims to improve outcomes for patients with cardiac and renal impairment, announced today that use of its Aortix percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (pMCS) device led to rapid decongestion in a pilot study of...
The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) has received significant new funding that it says will “empower the organisation’s mission to reduce barriers in the transplant system with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of individuals able to receive a...
Lower muscle mass, malnutrition, anaemia and depression—all of these, plus elevated mortality, are associated with lower rates of physical activity in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Compounding the problem for many such patients is the fact that, as...
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has announced a collaboration with the Home Dialysis University (HDU) to improve nephrology trainees’ knowledge, proficiency, and exposure to home dialysis therapies.  Through this new collaboration, ASN will provide up to 30 scholarships...
Talaris Therapeutics has announced that it has completed a review of its business and programme prospects. Based on this review, Talaris has decided to discontinue its FREEDOM-1 and FREEDOM-2 clinical trials evaluating FCR001’s ability to induce durable tolerance in...
Next month, Tanjala S Purnell (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA) will receive the National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) Excellence in Transplantation Award at the 2023 NKF Spring Clinical Meetings in Austin, USA. This award recognises the scientist or clinician scientist...
A total of £10 million has been awarded to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)—an executive agency of the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)—to help bring innovative new medicines and medical technologies to UK...
Interventional Systems has announced a new venture—called LARC Robotics—aimed at using surgical robotics for percutaneous renal access. Austria-based Interventional Systems said the unit simplifies percutaneous renal access in percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) procedures. This minimally invasive surgical technique helps to manage...
A new study in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA) has found that, while arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) that do not require assistance to mature have the best outcomes in the long term, unassisted arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) demonstrate better outcomes...
Work exhaustion and a lack of fulfilment are driving burnout among US dialysis patient care technicians (PCTs), according to a new survey whose results have been published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD). The results corroborate those of...
A new trial of endovascular ultrasound-based renal denervation technology has found that it reduced blood pressure in hypertensive patients at two months. The RADIANCE II study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), was carried out...
A study in Urologic Oncology led by Mario Ochoa-Arvizo (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK) has found that partial nephrectomy is less likely to result in new-onset postoperative chronic kidney disease (CKD) than radical nephrectomy. The systematic literature review and...
More than 850 million people worldwide are living with kidney disease and are particularly affected by disastrous events as their ability to access appropriate care, complex and multi-faceted in nature, may be hindered.  “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges...
The 19th annual scientific meeting of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN; 17–19 February, Orlando, USA) loomed large in February, with deep dives into drug-coated balloons and distal radial artery cannulation among the highlights. Elsewhere, interviews...
Living-donor kidney transplantation should be “treatment of choice” over deceased-donor transplantation, owing to it being the “most secure way to achieve pre-emptive kidney transplantation”. That is the view of a group of doctors writing in Frontiers in Public Health,...
A new retrospective cohort study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) has found that women are more likely to die from infection and dialysis withdrawal, contributing to a higher risk of all-cause mortality in the first...
In one of the select presentations at the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) 19th Annual Scientific Meeting (17–19 February, Orlando, USA) to receive a mid-lecture round of applause, Victoria Teodorescu, associate professor of vascular surgery at...
Saravanan Balamuthusamy (PPG Healthcare, Fort Worth, USA) writes to assess recent evidence on the contribution that can be made to vascular access for dialysis by machine learning algorithms, including prediction of reintervention and the mitigation of costs. Predictive analytics with...
It was not just presentation sessions that featured during the Sunday morning of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) 19th Annual Scientific Meeting (17–19 February, Orlando, USA). Among the several hands-on elements of the conference were...
The European Union’s Council of Ministers has today adopted a resolution to extend the deadline for the certification of medical devices under the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR). Producers of medical devices will have until 31 December 2027 for higher risk...
A new multicentre cohort study in Australia has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of an electronic alert system for the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) in high-serum creatinine patients. Sradha Kotwal (University of New South Wales, Randwick,...
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is more accurate and reliable than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for examining certain kidney and liver nodules, according to two new studies published in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine (JUM) and highlighted by the International...
A new Kidney International-published multinational cohort study has found that the excess risk of mortality for women who receive a kidney transplant is greater than for men when the donor is male—though not to a statistically significant degree if...
ReCor Medical and its parent company, Otsuka Medical Devices, recently announced that primary endpoint results from the RADIANCE II pivotal trial were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Study results showed that the Paradise ultrasound...
A new study probing which chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients would benefit most from renal artery stenting points toward those who experience a more rapid decline in renal function over six months prior to the procedure. It is an area...
A new study of Japanese patients with and without chronic kidney disease (CKD) found that a lower frequency of vegetable and fruit intake was associated with a higher risk of death regardless of CKD status. Baseline serum potassium levels...
Acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients who have undergone heart procedures can be reduced by implementing online team-based coaching more than by utilising alternative assistance-based strategies—so say the authors of the IMPROVE-AKI study, results from which were recently published...
Patients receiving haemodialysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are frail—however that is defined—have been found to be at greater risk of suffering cognitive impairment while receiving the treatment. “To our knowledge,” say the authors behind a new study,...
A report has been issued on methods for improving organ provision by the Organ Utilisation Group (OUG), a UK Department of Health-established body dedicated to making “recommendations on how to maximise the potential for organ transplantation from living and...
Procyrion has announced the successful treatment of the first patients in the A PRIORI—Aortix therapy for perioperative reductIon of renal injury—pilot trial to evaluate the performance of its Aortix percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (pMCS) device in preventing acute kidney...
NOTE: This video is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies Robert Shahverdyan (Hamburg, Germany), Matteo Tozzi (Varese, Italy), Alexandros Mallios (Paris, France), Ounali Jaffer (London, UK) and Narayan Karunanithy (London, UK) each give their take on...
The publication of a consensus statement from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Council on Hypertension and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) is among the final steps in the evaluation of renal denervation as a device-based...
The second day of the 2023 meeting of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN; 17–19 February, Orlando, USA) played host to a packed afternoon session on new technologies for interventional nephrology. Amidst this came a presentation...
Xeltis has raised €32 million in a Series D2 equity fundraise, backed by a syndicate of current and new investors, which the company says will enable it to progress its clinical programmes into pivotal trials. Investors include Grand Pharma, DaVita...
Rajeev Narayan (San Antonio Health Center, San Antonio, USA) has presented at the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) 19th Annual Scientific Meeting (17–19 February, Orlando, USA) to give his tips and tricks on distal radial artery...
The American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN)’s 2023 meeting (17–19 February, Orlando, USA) has seen its second day start with style, as Tze-Woei Tan (Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA)...
Renal denervation represents another treatment option in patients with uncontrolled resistant hypertension and may be used in selected patients deemed intolerant to antihypertensive drugs. These are among the messages of a new consensus statement published in EuroIntervention following a review...

Robert Jones

“More than in any other medical discipline,” says Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) president Robert Jones, “interventional radiology (IR) is where medicine meets technology”. A consultant interventional radiologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, he is now...
The Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC) has shared an important update regarding the significant need for increased living donor kidney donations. New data from the 2022 Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) metrics confirms that while the kidney transplant system...
Compared to other races, African American patients are more likely to experience premature arteriovenous (AV) graft failure in the treatment of advanced kidney failure, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North...
Alio, a medical technology company reinventing the management of chronic disease, has announced that it has been selected as winner of the “IoT Health & Wellness Company of the Year” award. This is the seventh annual awards program conducted...
HistoSonics, the developer of a non-invasive platform and novel sonic beam therapy called histotripsy, announced today the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the company-sponsored #HOPE4KIDNEY trial, which is designed to evaluate the safety and technical success...
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who are older or more vulnerable can achieve similar outcomes with their treatment, particularly on understanding of it and their condition, compared to those with less advanced disease through a combined “team-based approach” including “physicians,...
Transplant experts at Hackensack University Medical Centre have been the first in the USA to use new kidney preservation technology that can expand the window of time in which a kidney is viable—reducing the time it takes to receive...
Looking ahead to the upcoming Pan Arab Interventional Radiological Society meeting (PAIRS, 11–14 February, Dubai, UAE), Karim Abdel Tawab (Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt) speaks at the 2022 Endo Vascular Access Meeting (EVA, 4–8 July 2022, Patras, Greece) to...
Integrating patient-reported data on lifestyle and health information could help clinicians predict incident chronic kidney disease (CKD)—that’s the position of the authors behind a new study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). Prediction tools...
NOTE: This video is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies  In this Renal Interventions roundtable, Andrew Holden (moderator; Auckland, New Zealand) is joined by Alexandros Mallios (Paris, France), Kate Steiner (Stevenage, UK) and Tobias Steinke (Düsseldorf, Germany)...

Renal Interventions 6

Highlights: Study finds endovascular arteriovenous fistula (endoAVF) procedures are less likely to cause steal syndrome than surgical arteriovenous fistula (sAVF) ones. An in-depth feature on cannulation, with a written contribution from Debbie Brouwer-Maier of Transonic on the need for...
A new way to reduce progression of diabetic kidney disease, affecting 40% of people with diabetes, has been discovered by researchers. A University of Bristol-led study, recently published in JCI Insight, could help the 4.8 million people in the...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Jesduvroq tablets (daprodustat, GlaxoSmithKline) as the first oral treatment for anaemia caused by chronic kidney disease (CKD) for adults who have been receiving dialysis for at least four months. Jesduvroq...
A catheter produced by Medtronic and used in haemodialysis has been recalled due to a defect that “may cause serious adverse health outcomes”. An update on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website has laid out the specifics...
The use of immunosuppressant drugs to facilitate allograft success in kidney transplant recipients “does not delay failure of renal transplants after development of donor specific antibodies (DSAs)”. That’s the conclusion of the OuTSMART trial, which has been published in...
Increased levels of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) can cut the risk of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) and lead to a “slower decline in renal function” according to new research published in The BMJ.  Previous studies such...
CardioRenal Systems have announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for its RenalGuard Therapy device for the prevention of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in patients at risk for Cardiac Surgery Associated AKI...
Nextkidney, a Netherlands-based company that has developed the world’s first fully-portable haemodialysis device in the form of the NeoKidney, has raised €4.1 million in a new crowdfunding effort on the Oneplanetnow Dutch fundraising platform, co-led by the Generous Minds...
Vasc-Alert, a pioneer in vascular access surveillance, has announced the publication of a study in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA) validating its Vasc-Alert surveillance technology for dialysis patients. The study shows that the technology reliably predicts which patients may...
The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Work Group has issued a 2022 update to its 2020 guideline for the management of diabetes in chronic kidney disease (CKD). KDIGO, which develops and publishes guidelines, said the update was an...
Deborah J Brouwer-Maier is the vascular access marketing manager for Transonic (Ithaca, USA) and a haemodialysis nurse of almost 40 years. Exploring how her experience has shaped her view of cannulation, she outlines its problems and what she argues...
Mukesh Sharma (University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, Reno, USA) is a member of the faculty at the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN). Here, he examines the unique capabilities of the interventional nephrologist, and the...
A new study in Nature Communications has associated sugar with the development of the cysts that characterise polycystic kidney disease (PKD), with implications for how the condition should be treated. Co-lead authors Sienna Li and Ramila Gulieva (University of...
The recently introduced thulium fibre laser (TFL) does not improve the clinical outcomes of laser treatment for urinary stones compared to the standard for laser stone therapy, reports a randomised trial in the Journal of Urology, an official journal...
The use of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in treating chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is limited in the USA by the mistaken assumptions of clinicians, in part a result of insufficient education by healthcare providers, claims a new study published...
The fourth annual Hamburg Dialysis Access Symposium (23–24 September, Hamburg, Germany) was recently organised and moderated by Robert Shahverdyan (Asklepios Clinic Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany), who also presented. He reports for Renal Interventions on the event, which also included a hands-on workshop...
The “overwhelming majority” of previously-rejected deceased donor kidneys that have later been used for transplantation have been found viable by a new study published in Transplantation. According to its authors, the results suggest that more consideration should be given...
Eight minutes of Mozart have been found to reduce the pain of cannulation for haemodialysis patients, though not their level of anxiety, in a recent study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). High...
 Ultrasound is a powerful tool for assessing haemodialysis (HD) access for maturity, but may also be used to guide HD access cannulations and has the potential to “actually change the process of care” according to Vandana Dua Niyyar (Emory...
Makana Therapeutics, a global leader in the field of xenotransplantation, was granted an important European patent that will catalyse xenotransplantation efforts abroad, the company announced today. Makana is working to solve the organ shortage crisis by making genetically modified...
Lydus Medical is pleased to announce that the Vesseal has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance. The Vesseal is a microvascular anastomosis suture deployment system, for standardised omnivessel anastomoses, enabling simple, fast, safe, and effective procedures. An...
Baxter International has announced a comprehensive strategic roadmap to meaningfully enhance its operational effectiveness, drive towards improved long-term performance, accelerate innovation and create additional value for all stakeholders. These changes include the plan to spin off the company’s Renal...
A study recently published in Kidney International Reports (KIR) has found that urinary peptidome (UP) analysis can help predict a patient’s risk of developing kidney failure. It also describes the “potential” for the process to “uncover new pathophysiological chronic...
liberDi announced today that it has received regulatory clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its digital dialysis clinic, which allows patients to perform dialysis at home or at the workplace, by themselves, monitored by their...
XORTX Therapeutics, a late-stage clinical pharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat progressive kidney disease, is pleased to announce the submission of a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent application seeking international patent protection for the patent entitled...
Dirk M Hentschel (Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, USA), president of the Vascular Access Society of the Americas (VASA), has presented on the new Nephrodite Holly implantable device for continuous haemodialysis. Designed as an “implantable continuous dialysis hemofiltration device blending...
IceCure Medical, developer of the minimally-invasive ProSense System for cryoablation, which destroys tumours by freezing, today announced interim results from the ICESECRET study for the treatment of patients with small renal masses (SRM) who cannot be offered kidney-preserving surgery....
Aisha Shaikh (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, USA) has staked out a claim that, though hypotension is “associated” with arteriovenous access (AV) thrombosis, it should be far from the only consideration in choosing an access modality. She...
ReCor Medical and its parent company Otsuka Medical Devices have announced the appointment of Lara Barghout as president and chief executive officer of ReCor. Barghout will lead the ReCor business strategy and organisation in the global commercialisation of ReCor’s Paradise...
Renal failure surgeon Rajesh Sivaprakasam (Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK) was among several clinicians and industry speakers who recently vaunted a variety of new technologies in the renal space at the Global Innovation and New Technology (GIANT) summit...
The first robotic day-case nephrectomy at the Royal Free Hospital has been performed by Ravi Barod (Royal Free Hospital, London, UK), marking progress in use of the technology for kidney procedures. It has previously been performed in the United...
Those already receiving treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy can benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) procedures, which increase overall survival (OS) rates. That is according to a recent Urologic Oncology-published investigation led...
A web-based decision aid can improve the quality of treatment decisions made by patients over 70 with chronic kidney disease (CKD)—that is the conclusion of a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine (AIM). The Decision Aid for Renal...
VIETHsymposium (15–19 November, New York City, USA) has played host to a “mini-symposium” on the risk of steal syndrome and distal ischaemia posed by vascular access for haemodialysis. Moderated by John E Aruny (Dialysis Access Institute, Orangeburg, USA) and...
Patients with haematuria may be at increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD)—that’s the conclusion of a new study in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD). Led by Seungho Ryu and Yoosoo Chang (Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine,...
 Raphaël Coscas (Paris, France) talks to Renal Interventions about the first results of the ABISS trial, comparing drug-coated balloon (DCB) with plain-balloon angioplasty for arteriovenous fistula stenosis, which he presented at the Paris Vascular Insights (PVI) conference (23–25 November,...
Patients likely to develop end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) may first exhibit ageing in the eye, a study in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) has suggested. Retinal age gap, a measure which comprises retina-predicted age minus the patient’s...
Medtronic has announced the first patient enrolled in the Expand URO US clinical trial for the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. The robotic-assisted prostatectomy procedure was performed by Michael R Abern (Duke University Hospital, Durham, USA) at Duke University...
Haemodialysis has traditionally been conducted with dialysate of a temperature of 36.5°C, but the use of a personalised, lower-temperature dialysate is experiencing “rising popularity” with clinicians. Following the recent presentation at ASN Kidney Week by Amit Garg (Western University,...
Dmed's NephroFlow device is as effective for ultrasound dilution (UD) for vascular access (VA) as existing devices such as the Transonic VA flow measurement technology, according to a Spanish study comparing the two led by Jose L Merino (Hospital...
Corindus has been rebranded to Siemens Healthineers Endovascular Robotics and will sit as a dedicated business within the Advanced Therapies area of Siemens Healthineers, the company has announced. This brand unification is the final step of the company integration process...
VentureMed Group, a privately held medical device innovator in access management for arteriovenous (AV) fistulas and grafts and vessel preparation for interventional treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) announced data presented at the VEITHsymposium, (15–19 November, New York, USA)....
Alio, a medical technology company involved in the management of chronic disease, announced it has raised US$18 million in the initial close of a Series C financing, bringing the total amount the company has raised to over US$50 million. This...
A range of issues in cannulation in arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) have been laid out by Deborah Brouwer-Maier (Transonic Systems, Ithaca, USA) at VEITHsymposium (15–19 November, New York City, USA). Her presentation compared surgical arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) with endovascular AVFs,...
Renalytix has announced the publication of new real-world evidence in Primary Care and Community Health demonstrating the company’s KidneyIntelX bioprognostic test resulted in changed clinical decision-making for patients in the early-stage of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) being cared for within the Mount Sinai...
Buddy Ratner (University of Washington, Seattle, USA) has given a presentation on the prospect of miniaturised haemodialysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients at VEITHsymposium (15–19 November, New York City, USA). Beginning by assessing the recent history of haemodialysis,...
Europe’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, has announced that proposals to extend the transition period for the implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Medical Device Regulation (MDR) will be put forward in early 2023.  Kyriakides informed health ministers from the EU’s...
Haemodialysis (HD) is traditionally implemented in four-hour sessions, three times a week. The efficiency of this approach has been questioned, however, by the authors of a new study published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Led by Emma Caton (School of...
Dori Schatell (Medical Education Institute, Madison, USA) spoke at the VEITH Symposium (15–19 November, New York City, USA) on the uses of plastic cannulas in vascular access, extolling the advantages brought by their flexibility. Conceding that they were not...
Data have been presented for the first time at the Paris Vascular Insights (PVI) conference (23–25 November, Paris, France) from the ABISS trial, which compared drug-coated balloon (DCB) with plain-balloon angioplasty for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) stenosis. ABISS was a physician-designed...
Despite not reducing rates of delayed graft function in kidneys from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors, the novel organ storage technique of normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has demonstrated the potential to improve renal function in DCD kidneys. These are...
Bayer has announced that Kerendia (finerenone, 10mg and 20mg), an oral, first-in-class non-steroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, has been accepted for use within NHS Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) for the treatment of chronic kidney disease...
For patients with early-stage renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) that measure between 3 and 4cm, cryoablation yields a lower risk of cancer-related death compared to thermal ablation, reports a preliminary study in the Journal of Urology. "In contrast, for patients with...
The Swiss Federal Assembly has voted in favour of accepting medical devices with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing authorisation in Switzerland. A motion for ‘more freedom of action in the procurement of medical products for supply of the...
  Otsuka Medical Devices and ReCor Medical, a subsidiary of Otsuka, announce the filing of the pre-market approval (PMA) application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Paradise ultrasound renal denervation system (uRDN) system in the treatment of...

John Aruny

“If I had not been an interventional radiologist, I would have been a nephrologist.” John Aruny’s abiding interest in kidney disease treatment and a long career in interventional radiology (IR) have seen him assume leading roles in the field....
Compared with male patients, female patients have been found to have a higher risk of all-cause mortality in the first five years post-dialysis initiation—a difference driven by higher mortality from infections and dialysis withdrawals. These findings have been published...
Patient engagement, strong research collaborations, an open and inclusive canvas and year-round specialised education, will guide the multidisciplinary Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) in a new direction, says the team at the helm. Down the road,...
In light of recent shifts away from race-based algorithms in medicine—such as the adjustment for Black race in equations that estimate patients’ kidney function—new research published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN) has examined...
A cost-modelling analysis in real-world comparator groups has illustrated a potentially significant financial benefit across the UK healthcare system to using the VasQ external support device (Laminate Medical Technologies) for surgical arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation as a standard of...
AstraZeneca has presented new data at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2022 (3–6 November, Orlando, USA) on the importance of earlier screening and diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD). These findings were also simultaneously published in...

Renal Interventions 5 – US

Highlights: UK researchers alter blood type of deceased donor kidneys in “potentially game-changing” breakthrough, and other key clinical and regulatory updates from the renal transplantation space In-depth coverage of the Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) annual...

Renal Interventions 5 – EU

Highlights: UK researchers alter blood type of deceased donor kidneys in "potentially game-changing" breakthrough, and other key clinical and regulatory updates from the renal transplantation space In-depth coverage of the Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) annual...
The financial incentives offered by a recent US government programme for hospitals and clinicians to utilise home dialysis for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) have not caused statistically significant changes in usage of the treatment. This is the conclusion of...
VentureMed Group has announced new data presentations on the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) with drug-coated balloon (DCBs) in addition to 12-month AV Registry Data. These presentations will be given as part of the VEITH Symposium Annual Scientific...
Percutaneous endovascular arteriovenous fistula (pAVF) procedures carry a lower risk of steal syndrome and wound infection than surgical arteriovenous fistula creation (sAVF), a new study has suggested. Published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS), the review of existing...
For some individuals with advanced kidney disease, dialysis may not be the optimal treatment strategy for their condition, and these patients may be better served with conservative non-dialytic management that focuses on quality-of-life and symptom control. Investigators recently examined...
Late-breaking data from multiple high-impact clinical trials were presented at the recent 2022 American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week (3–6 November, Orlando, USA)—with renal transplant outcomes, hypertension in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, and lower-temperature dialysate in haemodialysis...
This advertorial is sponsored by Xeltis. An de Vriese (Bruges, Belgium), who is playing a leading role in an ongoing European trial investigating the aXess vascular graft, discusses the study and the significant potential held by this technology in dialysis...
 Hands-on training for medical, rather than surgical, juniors took centrestage at the first UK Kidney Week (UKKW; 7– 9 June, Birmingham, UK) with stations on peritoneal dialysis, central venous catheter placement using a state-of-the-art simulator, a “home-made” chicken model...
Xeltis announced today the initiation of a pivotal trial with the “first-ever” restorative synthetic haemodialysis access grafts, dubbed ‘Axess’. The first two patients have been successfully implanted as part of the AXESS European pivotal trial at AZ Sint-Jan Brugge-Oostende AV...
ReCor Medical and its parent company, Otsuka Medical Devices, announced consistent and significant blood pressure-lowering results across a range of patients with uncontrolled hypertension, including across differences in age, sex, baseline blood pressure, medication level and ethnicity. The results...
Baxter International, a global innovator in kidney care, has advanced scientific exchange with 14 new data presentations about the role innovation plays in increasing access to and quality of home dialysis and expanded haemodialysis (HDx) care at American Society...
Medtronic has announced the six-month results from the full cohort of the SPYRAL HTN-ON MED clinical trial. The late-breaking data were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2022 (5–7 November, Chicago, USA). With this news, Medtronic has...
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offer clinicians a variety of opportunities for taking earlier action on kidney problems. Several technologies allowing the prediction of renal issues were showcased recently at the 2022 American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week (3-6...
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has announced that Michelle A. Josephson will become the society’s next president. Josephson, who succeeds Susan E. Quaggin, will assume her new role on 1 January 2023. A highly experienced physician and academic leader,...
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies has announced that, effective 1 January 2023, it will assume full responsibility for the sales and distribution of the Surfacer inside-out access catheter system. As the developer and manufacturer of the Surfacer system, as well as the...
A debate regarding the optimal place for vascular access creation and management to take place—specialised units or high-volume centres—saw Suresh Mathavakkannan (East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage, UK) and David Kingsmore (Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Trust, Glasgow, UK) go...
An update from the first-in-human study assessing the Amplifi vein dilation system (Artio Medical) was delivered by Surendra Shenoy (Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA) during the first-ever late-breaking clinical trials session at this year’s Venous Endovascular...
The management of renal cancer patients featured prominently at this year’s Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) annual meeting (10–14 September, Barcelona, Spain), with discussions around patient selection and treatment planning preceding talks on the key therapeutic...
Transplant centres “should be aware” of the cognitive risks associated with post-kidney transplant delirium and should also implement available preventative interventions to reduce delirium risk. This is the concluding message of a study published recently in the American Journal...
Transit Scientific has announced that the XO RX 2.2Fr and XO RX 3.8Fr platform has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to crack, break and dilate stenoses in peripheral arteries and arteriovenous dialysis fistula-associated lesions. "We have demonstrated...
Concerns regarding infectious complications should not affect the implementation of ABO-incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplant programmes, as per the findings from a nationwide, prospective cohort study conducted across Switzerland and published recently in the journal Transplantation. Researchers Cédric Hirzel (Inselspital, Bern,...
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has launched a new animated video series aimed at educating people on their chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk. ‘Kidney Numbers and the CKD Heat Map’ is a new initiative that conveys complex health information while targeting patients with...
A list of 10 key research priorities intended to help standardise vascular access research were delivered to attendees at this year’s Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI) annual scientific meeting (29–30 September, Glasgow, UK). Presenter Jonathan de...
Cordis today announced its acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals, of MedAlliance. A press release notes that the agreement includes an initial investment of US$35 million and US$200 million payment upon closing in 2023, regulatory achievement...
A new guideline on the management of highly sensitised kidney transplant patients—those who have high levels of human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) and are therefore more likely to experience allograft rejection—has been published by a European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT)...
Surgeons at Universitaire Ziekenhuizen and AZ Universitair Ziekenhuis in Belgium have successfully performed the first kidney transplant procedures as part of a national contract with Organ Recovery Systems that designates the company as the exclusive provider of preservation services...
New findings, recently published in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA), provide insight into the haemodialysis access profile of failed kidney transplant patients treated in the Catalonia region of Spain over an 18-year period. Researchers Ramon Roca-Tey (Hospital Universitari Mollet, Barcelona,...
Xeltis today announced what it describes as “very promising” preliminary efficacy and safety results from one of the centres participating in the AXESS study—a first-in-human (FIH) clinical trial of its restorative haemodialysis access graft, Axess. The company has also reported...
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) in Tokyo, Japan have found that a need for emergency dialysis during hospitalisation for surgery is strongly associated with functional decline and death after surgery. These findings have been published in...
VentureMed Group announced today that Ari Kramer (Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Spartanburg, USA) has treated the first patient with the Flex vessel prep system (75cm length), targeting arteriovenous access interventions, including “hard-to-reach” cephalic arch stenoses. "As a physician treating AV...
Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors can be used safely to help preserve graft function in diabetic kidney transplant recipients, as per the findings from a retrospective cohort study published in the journal Transplantation. The study’s authors, Jang-Hee Cho (Kyungpook National University,...
Members of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and 21 organisations representing the kidney community—patients and healthcare professionals alike—recently met with their corresponding members of the US Congress to call for the protection of living organ donors by advancing...
Earlier this year, in an interview with Renal Interventions, Scott Trerotola (Philadelphia, USA) remarked that “guidelines are a research workbook for the next generation”. With this statement in mind, Emma Aitken (Glasgow, UK) examines how the most recent update...
Dialyze Direct has welcomed the American Heart Association’s (AHA) recent scientific statement endorsing home dialysis therapies—including the more frequent haemodialysis (MFD) model of care—in its “Cardiovascular Effects of Home Dialysis Therapies” report. This report has been published in the...
A regional patient survey from the UK has revealed a 71% rate of good experiences with vascular access cannulation, and a “great appreciation” for the supporting efforts of nursing and access teams, but also that roughly 20% of respondents...
Hansa Biopharma recently announced a recommendation by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) for its “first-in-class” treatment Idefirix (imlifidase) in the desensitisation of highly sensitised adult patients prior to receiving a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. The SMC considers Idefirix to...
At this year’s EndoVascular Access (EVA; 24–25 June, Patras, Greece) meeting, the design and intentions of the EVA DROP study—which will seek to evaluate blood pressure changes associated with device-created arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) for haemodialysis—were presented by Georgia Georgopoulou (University...
Findings from the RADIANCE II randomised pivotal trial, presented at the 2022 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting (TCT, 16–19 September, Boston, USA), “confirm that ultrasound renal denervation lowers blood pressure across the spectrum of hypertension”. RADIANCE II—results of which were described...
Stephen Hohmann (Texas Vascular Associates, Dallas, USA) recently sat down with Renal Interventions to discuss a number of key considerations along the dialysis journey, from listening to patients’ perspectives and managing their expectations, to access strategy planning, and the...
In an observational cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries receiving haemodialysis, the use of an arteriovenous graft (AVG) compared with an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) was associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE). Conversely,...
Fluidx Medical has announced completion of trial enrolment for its GPX embolic device. In this multicentre trial, GPX was used to treat a variety of primary and metastatic tumours, renal adenoma tumours, and in a range of other arterial...
This advertorial, sponsored by BD, is only available in selected countries and geographies. “The Changing Face of a Dialysis Patient” was the central theme at BD’s EMEA ESKD Summit (17–18 May 2022, Madrid, Spain)—a meeting that championed patient-centric, multidisciplinary...
Vascular Therapies has announced that the first patient in the ACCESS 2 clinical trial was enrolled by Nikhil Kansal at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, USA. The Phase 3 prospective randomised ACCESS 2 study will enrol 120 patients from centres in the...
Fresenius Medical Care North America's (FMCNA) Renal Therapies Group recently announced the availability of Speedswap—a new option for the company’s NxStage System One with NxView that enables the changing of a flow-compromised dialysis filter without replacing the entire cartridge. As per an FMCNA press...
Researchers at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) have successfully altered the blood type of three deceased donor kidneys—a breakthrough that could have major implications for kidney patients in the future. The project, funded by Kidney Research UK, could increase...
Earlier this year, a retrospective study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases came to the conclusion that “frailty may be useful for informing clinical decision-making regarding choice of vascular access”—based on findings from the United States Renal...
Building upon “pioneering work” at University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center (Dallas, USA), investigators recently reported the results of a clinical trial exploring the role of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SAbR) for patients with a handful of metastases, or so-called oligometastatic...
Natera has announced full enrolment for the RenaCARE (Renasight Clinical Application, Review and Evaluation) study—a real-world, prospective, multicentre trial to assess the clinical utility of Natera's Renasight genetic testing panel, which analyses more than 380 genes related to kidney disease....
Gore has announced the acquisition of InnAVasc Medical, a privately held medical technology company focused on advancing care for patients with end-stage renal disease who utilise graft circuits for dialysis treatment. Jeffrey Lawson and Shawn Gage from Duke University School...
ReCor Medical and Otsuka Medical Devices have announced that the RADIANCE II US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE) pivotal trial evaluating the Paradise ultrasound renal denervation (uRDN) system as a treatment for hypertension met its...
The importance of assessing clinical trial data in an objective, balanced way has been borne out by recent history in the vascular surgery space, according to Ziv Haskal (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA). This is particularly pertinent given the...
New research indicates that removing a race modifier from a formula used to diagnose kidney disease—estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)—could lead to more equitable care for Black patients. This study and a second examining how this same diagnostic approach...
Fresenius Medical Care North America's (FMCNA) Renal Therapies Group recently announced the availability of the CombiSet Smartech. According to a company press release, this is the first available single-use bloodline with an integrated Crit-Line blood chamber (CLiC) that simplifies...
Outset Medical has announced clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of its previously disclosed 510(k) submission and resumption of Tablo haemodialysis system shipments for home use. The company also reported financial results for the second quarter ended...
“Catheters are not nearly as bad as we make them out to be.” This was one of the salient messages delivered by Theodore Saad (Nephrology Associates, Newark, USA) at the 2022 Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium (9–11 June, Charleston,...
Physicians at Stanford Medicine (Stanford, USA) have developed a way to provide paediatric kidney transplants without immunosuppressant drugs. Their key innovation, according to a Stanford press release, is a safe method to transplant the donor’s immune system to the patient before...

Aisha Shaikh

Aisha Shaikh’s career in general and interventional nephrology has seen her assume leading roles in vascular access clinics, dialysis units and transplant centres alike, caring for a wide variety of kidney patients in different settings and locations across the...
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies today announced that Dan Beney has joined its executive team as vice president of sales. In this role, Beney will lead the expansion of the company’s sales efforts to drive the utilisation of the Surfacer inside-out...
Highlights: Patient perspectives regarding life on dialysis feature prominently following presentations at recent global conferences, while interviews with Theodore Saad (Newark, USA) and Stephen Hohmann (Dallas, USA) also centre around this theme In-depth coverage of the EndoVascular Access (EVA)...
Highlights: Patient perspectives regarding life on dialysis feature prominently following presentations at recent global conferences, while interviews with Theodore Saad (Newark, USA) and Stephen Hohmann (Dallas, USA) also centre around this theme In-depth coverage of the EndoVascular Access (EVA)...
Intraoperative ultrasonographic venous mapping is a useful tool to evaluate vessel suitability for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation, Yana Etkin (Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Lake Success, USA) concluded at this year’s Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Annual Meeting...
From insights on living with different treatment modalities, to problems created by poor physician-patient communication and long-term psychological challenges, kidney care physicians heard a range of perspectives from dialysis patients during two recent conferences—the Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium...
A study presented at this year’s American Transplant Congress (ATC; 4–8 June, Boston, USA) found that machine learning (ML) technologies did not outperform traditional statistical models in predicting long-term kidney allograft outcomes—attaining similar prediction performances overall. These findings were...
As highlighted by previous studies, as well as the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national report on renal medicine and data from the UK Renal Registry (UKRR), there is considerable variation in home dialysis uptake across the UK...
Lively discussion on unmet needs and building on quiet developments in vascular access from leading surgeons, interventional radiologists, nephrologists and interventional nephrologists formed the backbone of the recent EndoVascular Access (EVA; 24–25 June, Patras, Greece) meeting’s programme. Practice patterns and...
Acute kidney injury (AKI) risks have been significantly reduced by healthcare professionals at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust in the UK with the help of a new care model, supported by specialist nurses, and developed in partnership...
At this year’s EndoVascular Access meeting (EVA; 24–25 June, Patras, Greece), Michael Aragon—nephrologist and chief medical officer of Outset Medical—outlined existing benefits and barriers to home haemodialysis (HHD). “If we really want to look at how we are going to...
 Monnie Wasse, past-president of the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology (ASDIN) and director of interventional nephrology at Rush University Medical Centre (Chicago, USA), talks to the next generation about the Nephrology Partnership for Advancing Technology in Healthcare...
At the recent EndoVascular Access meeting (EVA; 24–25 June, Patras, Greece), and UK Kidney Week (UKKW; 7–9 June, Birmingham, UK), renal healthcare professionals had the opportunity to experience bespoke modules and didactic learning on kidney biopsy, ultrasound use for...
Quanta Dialysis Technologies has received the 2022 MacRobert Award in recognition of its efforts to develop the SC+ system—a portable, easy-to-use, high-performance dialysis machine intended to allow greater flexibility across the care continuum. The team behind this compact dialysis machine,...
SoniVie today announced that on 30 May this year the first patient was treated with its renal artery denervation Tivus therapeutic intravascular ultrasound technology, as part of the recently US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational device exemption (IDE)-approved REDUCED1...
 Nicholas Inston (Birmingham, UK) talks to Maurizio Gallieni (Milan, Italy) at EVA 2022 (24–25 June, Patras, Greece) about N-PATH—a European Union Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance funded project that involves eight universities, the European Renal Association, and the Vascular Access Society...
Current inequalities in kidney disease outcomes represent a “profound concern” for the UK and must be addressed moving forward, according to UK Kidney Association (UKKA) president Paul Cockwell (Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK). Speaking to Renal Interventions at this...
Access Vascular, Inc. (AVI) has shared initial findings from a retrospective review of patient records according to a press release. These demonstrate an increase in dwell times compared to other commercially available devices and no complications when using AVI’s...
 James Medcalf (Leicester, UK), UK Renal Registry medical director, tells Renal Interventions at UK Kidney Week (UKKW 2022; 7–9 June, Birmingham, UK), “This year for the first time, we had a levelling off of a number of new people...
 Robert Jones (Birmingham, UK), interventional radiologist and president of the Vascular Access Society of Britain and Ireland (VASBI), tells Renal Interventions at the Endovascular Access meeting (EVA; 24–25 June, Patras, Greece) that there are still significant untapped areas for...
Merit Medical has announced the successful enrolment of the first patient in its WRAP registry study in a press release. This study will evaluate the clinical benefits associated with the use of the Wrapsody cell-impermeable endoprosthesis in patients receiving...
A prospective, multicentre study involving the Covera vascular covered stent (BD) has confirmed the benefits of immediate, post-percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) placement of the device in treating arteriovenous graft (AVG) venous anastomotic stenosis when anatomically and clinically suitable. Writing...
Alio and the Hargan Group are to host a webinar “Bending the cost curve in end-stage kidney disease”, covering topics including challenges facing the end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) population and future innovation in kidney health. The webinar will take place...
The risk of major complications for people who donate a kidney via laparoscopic surgery is minimal. That is the conclusion of a 20-year Mayo Clinic (Rochester, USA) study of more than 3,000 living kidney donors, which has been published...
Talaris Therapeutics today provided a clinical update on its ongoing phase 3 FREEDOM-1 study of FCR001—the company's investigational allogeneic cell therapy designed to induce immune tolerance to a kidney graft in living donor kidney transplant recipients. To date, Talaris...
Transit Scientific had shared via press release successful outcomes on multiple fistula and graft cases using its XO Score sheath platform, a first-of-its-kind metal-alloy scoring, cutting, and constraining structure (CS) device, along with off-the-shelf percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloons. XO...
Attendees at this year’s UK Kidney Week (UKKW; 7–9 June, Birmingham, UK) heard that—based on a recent, single-centre study—peritoneal dialysis (PD) appears to be a safe and effective modality choice for patients following the loss of their kidney graft....
Scott Trerotola (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA), who is set to be awarded a Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Gold Medal in June 2022, sits down with Renal Interventions to share his views on the 2019 update to the...
Funder-provider engagement and patient education are vital in growing home dialysis uptake across an entire region or country. Financial incentives or performance targets are among key options for achieving the former—while the assessment of all end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)...
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies recently announced the publication of a paper featured on the cover of the June 2022 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS). The paper reports the use of the company’s Surfacer system to perform an ‘Inside-Out’ procedure and obtain...
A Laminate Medical Technologies press release reports that the US VasQ external support comparative study results were presented this month for the first time globally at the 2022 Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium (VASA; 9–11 June, Charleston, USA). The study...
At this year’s Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium (9–11 June, Charleston, USA), Alexander Toledo (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA) asserted the advantages of selectively ligating a patient’s arteriovenous fistula (AVF) following a successful kidney transplant—citing long-term medical,...
SoniVie recently announced that on 5 May 2022 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted investigational device exemption (IDE) approval for its REDUCED1 pilot study to treat resistant hypertension patients with renal artery denervation using the company's therapeutic...
In a retrospective cohort study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD), researchers have found that US adults receiving haemodialysis who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution have more heart attacks and strokes compared to haemodialysis...
It is critical that clinicians follow—or, at the very least, are aware of—their centre’s policies regarding cannulation practices. This message was delivered by Deborah Brouwer-Maier (Transonic Systems, Ithaca, USA) during a presentation at the 2022 Vascular Access for Hemodialysis...
AlloVir has announced preliminary, blinded data from an ongoing Phase 2 study of posoleucel—an investigational, allogeneic, off-the-shelf, multi-virus-specific T cell (VST) therapy for the treatment of BK viraemia in adult kidney transplant recipients. These data from the largest study...
CareDx recently announced that it plans to expand its growing multimodality portfolio with AiKidney—a new clinical decision support tool for allograft risk assessment that is in development, and includes the company’s AlloSure testing tool and other transplant metrics. This follows...
Hansa Biopharma has announced a recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for its first-in-class treatment Idefirix (imlifidase) in the desensitisation of highly sensitised adult patients prior to receiving a kidney transplant from a deceased...
Artio Medical today announced the closing of US$28 million in oversubscribed Series A2 and Series A3 financing, bringing the total amount raised by the company to date to US$74 million. Funds will be used to support US commercialisation efforts for the recently cleared...
New data presented at the 2022 Vascular Access for Hemodialysis Symposium (9–11 June, Charleston, USA) have demonstrated favourable outcomes with the Flex Vessel Prep system as compared to historical data, and “really impressive” results in the cephalic arch and...

Matteo Tozzi

Having grown up and studied medicine in Rome, Matteo Tozzi is currently deputy head of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, and associate professor of vascular surgery, at the University of Insubria in Varese, Italy. His work within the...
A research team led by Kazumi Taguchi, Shuzo Hamamoto and Takahiro Yasui (Nagoya City University , Nagoya, Japan) recently undertook a clinical trial to assess whether an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered device called the Automated Needle Targeting with X-ray (ANT-X)...
B. Braun Avitum has become the exclusive UK distributor for Physidia, a France-based manufacturer of a dedicated home dialysis machine, in a move that the company says should help improve the quality of life and independence of many more...
Outset Medical today announced it has implemented a shipment hold on the distribution of its Tablo haemodialysis system for home use pending the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review and clearance of a 510(k) the company submitted for...
While a fourth vaccine dose does increase anti-spike immunoglobin-G (IgG) and neutralising capacity against many COVID-19 variants of concern (VOCs), some solid-organ transplant recipients may remain at a high risk for Omicron infection despite receiving vaccine boosters. This is...
Jeremy Crane (London, UK) discusses the topic of vein preservation—including its central importance to successful dialysis access creation, and practical measures for achieving it in clinical practice. The presence of patent peripheral key veins in the arm is an obvious...
Based on over four years of experience in a single centre, Robert Shahverdyan (Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany) claims that endovascular arteriovenous fistula (endoAVF) creation “keeps future options open,” but is not a replacement for surgical fistula creation. Speaking at...
Natera today announced the presentation of data on the clinical utility of its Prospera and Renasight tests across a total of 14 sessions at the 2022 American Transplant Congress (ATC; 4–8 June, Boston, USA). This expands on 13 peer-reviewed...
With comprehensive UK Renal Registry (UKRR) data from 2020 set to be published by the UK Kidney Association (UKKA) imminently, Renal Interventions previews a handful of key talking points these figures will likely trigger. One immediate observation from the 2022...
This advertorial is sponsored by Vascular Therapies Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation is a pivotal event in patients requiring haemodialysis. Maximising the number of fistulas that mature, become suitable for initial clinical use and remain suitable for sustained clinical use continues...
Highlights: Multiple new data from the Charing Cross (CX) Symposium on drug-coated balloons (DCBs) and their application in vascular access Scott Trerotola (Philadelphia, USA) discusses his thoughts on the most recent Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guideline update ...
Highlights: Multiple new data from the Charing Cross (CX) Symposium on drug-coated balloons (DCBs) and their application in vascular access Scott Trerotola (Philadelphia, USA) discusses his thoughts on the most recent Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) guideline update ...
MedAlliance’s Selution SLR drug-eluting balloon (DEB) has received investigational device exemption (IDE) approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, making it the first limus DEB to be available to US patients, the company announced in a press release. The...
Sonavex has announced that it has received a US$1.7 million grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop EchoGuide—a novel technology which is designed to reduce cannulation injury. The grant provides capital for ongoing research and...
Medtronic and DaVita have together announced their intent to form a new, independent kidney care-focused medical device company in an effort to enhance the patient treatment experience and improve overall outcomes. According to a joint press release, the new company will...
Hologic has received the European CE mark for two new molecular assays—Panther Fusion EBV Quant Assay and Panther Fusion BKV Quant Assay—expanding its transplant pathogen monitoring menu on the Panther Fusion system. The assays quantify the viral load of the...
VentureMed Group recently announced that it has completed enrolment of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) titled 'Flex Vessel Prep prior to PTA for the treatment of obstructive lesions in the native AVF'. This RCT was conducted to assess primary...
Sanjay Misra (Rochester, USA) discusses the need for pharmacological approaches that can improve successful, long-term outcomes with arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) and outlines a handful of novel solutions on the horizon. In 2017, about 750,000 US patients were diagnosed with end-stage...
Three late-breaking clinical trials presented at the 59th European Renal Association (ERA) congress (19–22 May, Paris, France) have placed increased focus on the need to quickly detect and treat chronic kidney disease (CKD). Annette Bruchfeld (Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden), who...
X-Therma has announced that the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its proprietary XT-ViVo organ preservation solution and TimeSeal organ transport device Breakthrough Device status. “This milestone moves us as a...
Late-breaking trial data presented at EuroPCR 2022 (17–20 May, Paris, France) underscore the potential of renal denervation as an adjunctive therapy to treat hypertension, complementing existing first-line treatments including lifestyle modifications and medication, attendees of the conference heard. Day one...
Germany-based endovascular simulator supplier CATHI has joined forces with UK-based Vascular Simulation Solutions (VSS) to offer the world’s first online training masterclass using endovascular simulation coupled to a structured curriculum, the company said in a press release. At its...
The results of a small-scale pilot study from Asia have indicated “potentially disappointing” results with a novel drug-eluting balloon in treating dysfunctional arteriovenous access for dialysis. These findings were delivered by Tjun Tang (Singapore General Hospital, Singapore)—who also highlighted...
Invizius recently announced that it has been awarded a second Biomedical Catalyst grant (Feasibility and Primer Award) by Innovate UK to research a new field of application—peritoneal dialysis (PD)—for its H-Guard technology. The company is developing a H-Guard haemodialysis priming...
NOTE: This video is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies In a late-breaking Podium 1st presentation at the 2022 Charing Cross (CX) International Symposium (26–28 April, London, UK), Andrew Holden (Auckland, New Zealand) revealed that patients...
In recognition of the fact that “too many” people in Canada are on organ waitlists, with Canada also lagging behind other high-performing countries in organ donation, the Canadian government has invested CA$2 million into two innovative organ and tissue...
Dialyze Direct has announced that its findings regarding the effect of more frequent dialysis for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have been peer-reviewed by Hemodialysis International and published in an article entitled “Post-Dialysis Recovery Time in...
Relavo has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant worth US$1 million, which will be used to complete development and conduct safety, efficacy, and usability testing on the PeritoneX disinfection system. The PeritoneX is...
Kate Steiner (Stevenage, UK) discusses existing clinical evidence on drug-coated balloons (DCBs) in the treatment of arteriovenous access stenosis—and outlines areas where further data are still needed on how they stack up against more traditional plain-balloon techniques. Failure of maturation...
Medtronic has announced new randomised controlled data demonstrating the sustained and superior performance of the IN.PACT AV drug-coated balloon (DCB) compared to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) through 36 months, with no difference in mortality. The data were delivered as...
The preliminary results from a clinical trial assessing a restorative haemodialysis access graft have shown promising early puncturing, patency and safety data. These findings from an ongoing first-in-human study of the Axess graft (Xeltis) are being presented for the...
Medtronic has announced that Laura Mauri has been appointed as the company’s chief scientific, medical and regulatory officer. This appointment adds to Mauri's prior responsibilities as chief clinical and regulatory officer, aligning and integrating the company's scientific, medical, clinical research...
This advertorial is sponsored by Alio Medical Owing to the various risk factors and potential complications faced by kidney disease patients undergoing dialysis treatment, new technologies that enable these patients to be monitored remotely and continuously—and ultimately managed more effectively—are...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has awarded 510(k) clearance to Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) for its Versi peritoneal dialysis (PD) cycler system—a next-generation, portable automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) system. Fresenius claims that Versi PD is “the...
A federal partnership established to help increase access to COVID-19 vaccines for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients receiving dialysis was successful in reducing racial disparities in vaccination coverage, new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine has affirmed. Compared to white patients,...
Alio has announced it has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its remote monitoring system, which is intended for use by healthcare professionals to intermittently collect physiological data—including skin temperature, auscultation sound data and heart...
Fresenius Medical Care announced today that its Global Medical Office has launched the My Reason campaign to promote patient enrolment in the company's kidney-focused genomics registry, which was first introduced last year. With the “ambitious goal” of enrolling more than 100,000 participants within five...
Outset Medical has announced the release of three new data sets related to home dialysis—each of which are being presented during the ongoing National Kidney Foundation (NKF) spring clinical meetings (6–10 April 2022; Boston, USA). The results from scientific...
Baxter International has announced US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance of the company’s ST Set, intended for use in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). The ST Set is a pre-connected, disposable, extracorporeal circuit that provides blood purification...
Sangamo Therapeutics has announced dosing of the first patient in the Phase 1/2 STEADFAST clinical study evaluating TX200—an investigational, wholly owned, autologous chimeric antigen receptor regulatory T cell (CAR-Treg) cell therapy product candidate for the prevention of immune-mediated rejection...
Long-term data from the first 80 patients in the SPYRAL HTN-ON MED trial have been presented during a featured clinical research session at the American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific sessions (ACC 2022, 2–4 April, Washington DC, USA). The data,...
A retrospective analysis of the US Renal Data System has found that, in patients undergoing haemodialysis treatment, a higher degree of frailty is associated with an increased timeframe for a vascular access to become functional. As such, writing in...
Nipro Medical Corporation is set to introduce its second-generation Cronus high-pressure (HP) percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon catheter to the US market. Cronus HP is indicated for use in popliteal, femoral, iliac, and renal arteries, and in the treatment of...
Medtronic recently voluntarily recalled a subset of its IN.PACT Admiral and IN.PACT AV paclitaxel-coated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon catheters due to the potential for pouch damage resulting in a loss of sterility. This is according to a news...
A departure from the “extreme mantra” of Fistula First unlocks the door to a new, dynamic vision that could swing the pendulum back to increased arteriovenous graft (AVG) use. But, this hinges on shared decision-making with patients and sight...
The arteriovenous graft (AVG) for use as a dialysis conduit is a story of innovation, disappointment, intrigue, politics and hope. A recent recalibration of guidelines from “fistula first” to the “right access” may see these easy-to-use, off-the-shelf devices move...
Robotic urologic oncology surgeon Dipen J Parekh (University of Miami Health System, Miami, USA) has become the first in the USA to test a new, preoperative surgical rehearsal technology recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...
Nipro Medical Corporation has announced the commercial launch of its Surdial Dx haemodialysis system—designed to create an optimal dialysis treatment experience for patients and clinicians—in the USA. Manufactured in Japan, the system draws from more than 35 years of expertise in...
Vascular Therapies today announced the closing of US$25 million in private financing. The financing in question comprised of both existing and new investors, including a Fortune 100 global healthcare company. Vascular Therapies plans to use the proceeds to further advance...
Investigators have completed enrolment in the RADIANCE-II pivotal trial of the Paradise ultrasound renal denervation (uRDN, Recor Medical) system for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension. Subject to study outcomes, the RADIANCE-II results will be combined with the previously released data...
Kidney failure patients who wish to receive the choice of home dialysis face an unequal struggle across the UK to access such care, according to the Bridging the Gap report, which was released today by Quanta Dialysis Technologies. The...
Malignant ureteric obstruction (MUO) poses several tangible threats to cancer patients—and these threats translate, in turn, to challenges for the interventional radiologist and other treating physicians. Here, Conrad von Stempel and Tim Fotheringham (London, UK) describe a number of alternative techniques...
Data analysis from a recent clinical trial has indicated that removing a race-based adjustment in the estimation of patients’ kidney function had a small but potentially important impact on the inclusion of participants—with differing effects on Black and non-Black...
Ascend Clinical claims to have become the first customer to leverage an artificial intelligence (AI) solution with deep learning models—provided by SambaNova Systems and DeLorean AI—in an attempt to advance kidney care by classifying, tracking and transitioning renal patients...
NephroSant has today announced enrolment of the first patient in its AQUA (Assessment of QSant for underlying allograft rejection) study. Eligible participants will have undergone kidney transplantation within 90 days of enrolment—with up to 2,000 individuals being enrolled and...
As dialysis modalities go, peritoneal dialysis (PD) is currently among the more popular choices in treating kidney disease patients. For many physicians, its perceived benefits—a decreased burden on the patient and their day-to-day living arguably being the most important...
Xeltis has announced promising initial outcomes from two key vascular trials involving its restorative graft technologies. According to the company, more than 350 successful dialysis sessions have been completed in implanted patients within six months from the start of a...
Lyfebulb and CVS Kidney Care have announced 10 finalists for the 2022 Innovation Challenge: Accelerating Innovations in Kidney Disease to Improve Health Equity and Outcomes. The finalists brought forward an array of strategic, creative and scalable concepts to make kidney...
Fist Assist Devices has announced a three-year affiliation with Regional Health Care Group to commercialise and launch sales of the Fist Assist Model FA-1 device in Australia and New Zealand. The FA-1 device is a wearable, patent-protected, intermittent compression...
A retrospective review involving nearly 300 patients has concluded that precision banding as a treatment for high-flow haemodialysis accesses offers “an effective, low-morbidity approach”. The findings of the review are published in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA). “This...
The VasQ external support device (Laminate Medical) has demonstrated long-term benefits for radiocephalic (forearm) arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation in a retrospective analysis of 150 consecutive procedures. Robert Shahverdyan (Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany) and Dirk Hentschel (Brigham and Women’s...
Research by the University of Leicester (Leicester, UK) into chronic kidney disease has received a major boost on World Kidney Day (10 March 2022) following a £1 million donation from long-term supporter and kidney health advocate Jimmy Mayer. This vital funding...
NephroSant has announced that the Journal of Clinical Medicine has published real-world data that provides insight into how changes in allograft health are reflected in specific ranges of QSant scores. QSant is a non-invasive home collection that analyses biomarkers of...

Charmaine Lok

Equally at home on the ward seeing patients, at study sites conducting research, and travelling the world for voluntary medical missions, Charmaine Lok has engaged in all aspects of the modern medical profession. Lok is a nephrologist and clinician...
Diality has announced the close of a US$24 million Series B2 investment round. The Series B2 round of funding will be used for activities to support US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance of the company’s versatile haemodialysis system—including preparing...
The concept of dedicated vascular access centres fuels a turbocharged Texan tussle with Karl Illig (Flow Vascular Center, Houston, USA) taking on Eric Peden (Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA) in a no-holds-barred debate on how best to deliver longitudinal...
The second edition of Renal Interventions homes in on multiple key issues currently rousing the kidney disease management community, including: The promise offered by recent xenotransplantation procedures in tackling global donor organ shortages An in-depth look at the evolving...
The second edition of Renal Interventions homes in on multiple key issues currently rousing the kidney disease management community, including: The promise offered by recent xenotransplantation procedures in tackling global donor organ shortages An in-depth look at the evolving...
Baxter International has announced new data indicating the use of its Sharesource remote patient management platform with an automated peritoneal dialysis cycler may improve the clinical effectiveness of dialysis care for kidney patients by extending their time on home therapies by...
Dialysis patients who received an adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) were found to have similar rates of breakthrough infection, hospitalisation and mortality as dialysis patients who received an mRNA-based vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech), according to a DaVita Clinical Research...
Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed and tested a new imaging approach they say will accelerate imaging-based research in the lab by allowing investigators to capture images of blood vessels at different spatial scales. Tested in mouse tissues, the method,...
SyMap Medical has announced that it has completed enrolment of the SMART study, which will evaluate the safety and efficacy of targeted renal denervation (RDN) using the SyMapCath I system for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension. According to SyMap, this...
Cibiltech has announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the CIBIL (Clinical impact of the iBox as an early intervention tool) study, a prospective randomised controlled trial to assess the use of a software predicting allograft survival...
The interim results of an ongoing clinical study of PatenSee's contactless imaging device for the early detection of vascular access stenosis in dialysis patients were recently shared in a poster presentation at the World Congress of Nephrology (WCN'22; 24–27...
Humacyte today announced that five-year data from a phase 2 clinical trial of patients receiving the investigational Human Acellular Vessel (HAV) for arteriovenous (AV) access in haemodialysis have been published in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery companion...
Charing Cross (CX) chair Roger Greenhalgh welcomes the vascular community to this year's symposium, due to be held 26–28 April in London, UK, and virtually. To read the preliminary programme and register visit cxsymposium.com.
Bio-Techne has announced an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific to exclusively complete the development of and commercialise the ExoTRU kidney transplant rejection test developed by Exosome Diagnostics, a Bio-Techne brand, a press release claims. ExoTRU is a non-invasive, multigene, urine-based...
As per a clinical study involving more than 2,300 adult patients, a second kidney transplant is likely to offer improved survival outcomes when compared to shifting over to dialysis treatment in people whose first kidney graft has stopped functioning...
A multicentre experience with the 4 French (4Fr) WavelinQ endoAVF system (BD) has found that the device is safe and effective, bolstering existing evidence that it could offer an alternative option to surgically created arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) in the...
Natera has announced the results of a large clinical experience study confirming the "strong performance" of its Prospera donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) test in assessing rejection for kidney transplant patients. The study, published in Transplantation Proceedings, reports the real-world impact of dd-cfDNA...
Transplantation discrepancies between Black and white patients have been found to contribute significantly to differing survival rates for childhood-onset kidney failure across the two racial groups. Reporting these findings in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN),...
DaVita Kidney Care has announced the appointment of Mihran Naljayan—a clinical associate professor at LSU School of Medicine (New Orleans, USA) who is board-certified in nephrology and hypertension through the American Board of Internal Medicine—as its new chief medical officer...
In light of recent and upcoming developments in the space, Vinson Wai-Shun Chan and Tze Min Wah (Leeds, UK) explore the evidence and latest progress in renal tumour biopsy (RTB), and discuss the treatment of small renal masses (SRMs)...
CloudCath announced today it has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for the CloudCath system—which the company claims is the world's first data-driven, cloud-based, remote monitoring platform for peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The company is planning a...
Far infrared radiation (FIR) has demonstrated no haemodynamic changes in the arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) of haemodialysis patients, despite prior contradicting research. This is the key finding of a study published in the Journal of Vascular Access by Emilie K...
Screening protocols to determine who qualifies for ‘compassionate dialysis’ in hospitals with high numbers of uninsured patients are contributing to increased strain on the emergency room (ER), as measured by how long ER patients are waiting to be seen...
Trestle Biotherapeutics has entered into a license agreement with Harvard University (Cambridge, USA). Under the agreement, Trestle will commercialise a suite of stem cell- and 3D biofabrication-based regenerative medicine technologies developed at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering,...
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) has become the latest company to announce partnerships with nephrology providers via the new Kidney Care Choices (KCC) models—first announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2019, and formally...
Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) access is one of the key areas that is set to receive a boost following MedAlliance’s acquisition of its partner MDK Medical—according to a company press release. MDK Medical has previously worked closely with MedAlliance in...
A systematic review published in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA) has illuminated haemodialysis patients’ views and experiences of arteriovenous access cannulation, concluding that many patients learn to tolerate its unpleasantness out of a sense of necessity, with feelings...
Peer-reviewed research outlining the successful transplant of genetically modified, clinical-grade pig kidneys into a brain-dead human individual has been published in the American Journal of Transplantation. This publication was recently announced by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Marnix E...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued two final guidances providing recommendations for including patient perspectives in medical device clinical studies.   As per an FDA press release, the finalised version of the first of these two guidance...
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) has announced that its KidneyCare:365 chronic kidney disease (CKD) health programme has been awarded Population Health Program (PHP) accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). According to a company press release, KidneyCare:365...
As per an announcement on the company’s LinkedIn page, InnAVasc Medical has been granted US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permission to commence the third phase of enrolment for its pivotal clinical study. “This is a big step forward to...
Concept Medical has shared the latest update from its IMPRESSION (Sirolimus-coated balloon angioplasty versus plain balloon angioplasty in the treatment of dialysis access dysfunction) randomised controlled trial (RCT), as it crosses the 50% enrolment mark. The IMPRESSION trial enrolled its...
NextKidney BV has announced the acquisition of Dialyss Pte Limited from 1 January 2022. According to a press release, this marks a major milestone towards the commercialisation of the first truly portable, sorbent-based haemodialysis device, the Neokidney—which the company...
Fluidx Medical has announced in a press release that its GPX embolic device was used to effectively devascularise a large renal tumour with multiple feeding vessels as part of a multicentre clinical trial. "This could have been a challenging case...
DaVita has announced the acquisition of transplant software company MedSleuth, which works with US transplant centres to improve experiences and outcomes for kidney and liver transplant patients. With this acquisition, DaVita is deepening its efforts to fuel transplant innovation, underscoring...
Pathfinder Medical, which has developed a proprietary technology to guide and accurately align catheters in endovascular procedures allowing clinicians to make connections across blood vessels in the body without the need for open surgery, has announced securing £8.5 million. The...
Cancer, infections and heart disease pose the greatest risk to kidney transplant recipients—not organ rejection—according to a recently published Mayo Clinic study. Researchers discovered that recipient death due to factors other than organ rejection is the leading cause for...
Anais Medical, a new company founded by Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT) and led by José Ibeas (nephrologist at Parc Taulí University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain), intends to develop practical educational material that uses realistic models and simulations,...
There are some very serious risks associated with forgotten ureteric JJ stents. David Maudgil, a consultant interventional radiologist at Wexham Park Hospital, Frimley Health Foundation Trust (Slough, UK), outlines why and when these devices are used, explains the risks...
Fresenius Kidney Care and Biim Ultrasound AS have announced an agreement to expand use of Biim's innovative ultrasound system for assisting needle cannulation prior to dialysis treatment. Fresenius successfully piloted the use of Biim's ultrasound system at more than two dozen dialysis...
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has announced the recipients of two of its most prestigious awards in the field of nephrology, with Bernard Jaar, a practising nephrologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA, and Cheyenne Fasce, a...
Attempts to optimise the current state of play in vascular access for dialysis patients—from deployment of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) to more novel vein dilation technologies—piqued the interest of Renal Interventions readers throughout 2021. An in-depth interview with pioneering vascular...
Home haemodialysis provider Dialyze Direct has announced the acquisition of Renew Dialysis, a regional provider of on-site dialysis services in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), with eight locations in Ohio and one in Virginia, that was co-founded by Saber Healthcare...
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) national report on renal medicine represents a “call to action” for the UK renal community, and provides greater focus in driving quality improvement across care pathways for kidney disease. These were among...
Kidney transplant recipients tend to mount impaired antibody responses against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants after standard two-dose COVID-19 vaccination, according to a study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The research shows this is also...
Hansa Biopharma recently announced that the first patient has been enrolled in its CONFIDES trial—a US pivotal, open-label, randomised controlled study—at the Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA). The CONFIDES trial is evaluating the drug imlifidase as a potential desensitisation...
Fresenius Medical Care has announced the launch of Carrie, a custom-built mobile application intended to connect, inform and support Fresenius Kidney Care nurses and clinical teams in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Named ‘Carrie’ in recognition of the “limitless...
Zynex Monitoring Solutions recently reported it has started enrolment in a haemodialysis clinical trial with its CM-1500 fluid monitoring system. The study, conducted at DaVita Clinical Research clinics, is aimed at further characterising changes in the device's patented Relative...
Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB; Birmingham, USA) and US firm Endomimetics are working to develop a long-sought-after, effective therapy that will promote healthy maturation in arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs)—and recently reported preclinical progress on this front...
Xeltis has announced initiation of a clinical trial evaluating Axess, which it claims is the first ever restorative synthetic haemodialysis access graft. Several patients with kidney failure or advanced kidney disease requiring dialysis have already been successfully implanted as...
A single-centre, retrospective, comparative study, which was presented at the July 2021 Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS) Journal Club (14 July, online), has found that percutaneous arteriovenous fistula (pAVF) creation may be associated with lower rates of complication relating...
Fist Assist Devices has announced that it recently received Breakthrough Device designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Fist Assist Model FA-1 device. According to the company, the FA-1 is the world’s first wearable device for...
Arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are widely considered to be the holy grail in dialysis access, providing a more long-term solution than synthetic arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) or central venous catheters (CVCs), with a reduced risk of complications. However, these benefits only...
DaVita has recently become the first kidney care provider to completely power its North American operations with renewable energy, according to a press release from the company. DaVita achieved this goal, which it set in 2019, by contracting with Longroad...
Video-based telemedicine is used to facilitate care across all stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and has evolved in recent years to be less reliant on specialised equipment, allowing patients to receive kidney care in a location of their...
 Nicholas Inston (consultant vascular access and renal transplant surgeon, Birmingham, UK) discusses the crucial care interventional radiologists provide for renal patients with Ian Mcafferty (consultant interventional radiologist, Birmingham, UK, and immediate past president of the British Society of Interventional...
 Nicholas Inston (Birmingham, UK) talks to CX about the challenges in creation, maintenance and salvage of vascular access in patients with end stage renal disease. Inston highlights the many innovations and technologies that have come to the forefront in recent...
 Alexandros Mallios (Paris, France) and Robert Shahverdyan (Hamburg, Germany) talk to Vascular News about some of the benefits of the Ellipsys™ Vascular Access System (Medtronic), how it compares to more traditional fistula creation techniques, and the key steps for...
Cleaning and low-level disinfection (LLD) effective against bloodborne pathogens are safe and sufficient procedures for disinfecting ultrasound transducers used in percutaneous procedures—this is according to an intersocietal position statement recently issued by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine...
NYU Langone Health has performed a second successful investigational xenotransplantation procedure using a genetically engineered pig kidney. This second surgery is a sign of continued progress toward a potential alternative supply of life-saving organs, according to a press release. Leading...
Huge strides have been made in preventing contrast-associated acute kidney injury among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and other interventional procedures in recent decades, Roxana Mehran (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA) tells Cardiovascular...
SyMap Medical has announced the completion of a financing round that will be used to accelerate global clinical trials for the company’s renal mapping and selective renal denervation systems. The financing round of nearly US$100 million was led by Primavera...
Arrow International has recalled its Arrow-Trerotola over-the-wire 7Fr percutaneous thrombolytic device (PTD) kits, which are used to remove clots in adult patients who have arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) and synthetic dialysis grafts. The recall has been attributed to the risk of the orange...
Alio has announced a partnership with Lifeline Vascular Care in support of patients living with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Alio leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and the company’s SmartPatch sensor technology to non-invasively monitor vascular access health and other chronic...
 The Amplifi Vein Dilation System (Artio Medical) is an innovative device designed to dilate arm veins in preparation for arteriovenous fistula (AVF) surgery using rapid, non-pulsatile venous blood flow. Surendra Shenoy, M.D. (a vascular surgeon with specialist interest in...
Artio Medical has announced that full results from its first-in-human clinical study of the Amplifi vein dilation system were presented at the 2021 VEITHSymposium (16–20 November, Orlando, USA and virtual) by Surendra Shenoy, associate professor of surgery in the Washington University School...
An observational study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) has identified a “promising” histological marker for determining kidney transplant failure. A collaboration between Kyoto University and Akita University in Japan—led by Motoko Yanagita, a professor...
University of Maryland Medicine—which is comprised of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM)—has announced that it will end the use of a long-standing clinical standard for measuring kidney function...
Dialysis patients who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines had a lower risk of COVID-19 diagnosis post-vaccination, and were less likely to be hospitalised or die following breakthrough infection compared to unvaccinated patients. That is according to a study announced today...
RenalSense recently announced it has secured US$14 million to bolster the global commercialisation of its current product, the Clarity RMS, expand clinical validation to additional clinical settings, and advance the release of its next-generation products based on its sensor platform. The...
An updated risk score to predict possible contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been presented by Roxana Mehran (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA) at the American Heart...
New technologies intended to improve the often-mixed outcomes associated with arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) for haemodialysis access were on display at this year’s Vascular Access Society of Britain & Ireland scientific meeting (VASBI; 16–17 September 2021, virtual). In addition to...
There are several different types of dialysis treatment available to kidney disease patients—with the three major players, in-centre haemodialysis (ICHD), home haemodialysis (HHD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) all holding their own benefits and drawbacks. Mark Lambie, a senior reader...
Simulations Plus has announced that its DILIsym Services division has released RENAsym version 1A, the first version of its novel quantitative systems toxicology (QST) software for predicting and investigating drug-induced kidney injury. RENAsym modelling supports key drug development decisions by predicting potential...
Baxter Asia Pacific (Baxter) has announced the launch of My Kidney Journey—a comprehensive online portal intended to support patients living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. CKD is becoming more prevalent in countries across Asia and continues to be a...
Fresenius Medical Care recently presented its advances in home dialysis solutions at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China. The company showcased new digitalised options that enable patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to perform dialysis in...
Early data have indicated that a national project, dubbed MAGIC (Managing access by generating improvements in cannulation), has improved cannulation techniques of haemodialysis accesses in UK centres. Catherine Fielding, a haemodialysis nurse and trainee advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) at...
People with kidney failure who are on dialysis or who have received a kidney transplant face a higher risk of dying from COVID-19—and new research has revealed that these individuals have profound immune system-related differences compared with people with...

Alexandros Mallios

Born and raised in the small lakeside city of Kastoria in northern Greece, Alexandros Mallios’ 15-year journey as a vascular surgeon has seen him complete a year of national service in the Greek military, travel to far-flung parts of...
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has announced the appointment of three new members to its national Board of Directors. The new members, Hubert L Allen (Chicago, USA), Renée Richardson Gosline (Cambridge, USA) and Alison Steiber (Shaker Heights, USA), were nominated and approved at...
OrganOx, the producer of the 'metra' normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) product, has announced the completion of a £6.4 million equity fundraise. The fundraise was led by Oxford Investment Consultants and supported by both existing and new shareholders. According to a...
 The upcoming Controversies in Dialysis Access (CiDA) meeting in Dallas, Texas is stepping up the scrutiny on the controversies and questions currently igniting the dialysis community, Bart Dolmatch (Portola Valley, USA) tells Renal Interventions at the Paris Vascular Insights...
New research presented at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week (2–7 November 2021, virtual) indicates that substantial discrepancies exist between two major tools used to assess kidney function—estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and measured glomerular filtration rate...
The Ellipsys vascular access system (Avenu Medical/Medtronic) can be used to easily and safely create durable percutaneous arteriovenous fistulas (pAVFs) for haemodialysis—with new, long-term data suggesting it offers an “excellent alternative” to AVF creation via surgical procedures in end-stage...
The results of several high-impact clinical trials with the potential to impact kidney-related medical care in the future were presented at this year’s American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week (2–7 November 2021, virtual). Highlights from this session included...
Randomised placebo-controlled trials show consistently that renal denervation provides significant reduction in ambulatory and office blood pressure, the findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis suggest. Findings of the paper, authored by Yousif Ahmad (Yale School of Medicine, Yale University,...
Six-month outcomes from the randomised RADIANCE-HTN TRIO trial, comparing endovascular ultrasound renal denervation to a sham procedure for treatment-resistant hypertension, demonstrate the additional effects of pharmacologic intervention with maintenance of a blood pressure-lowering effect of renal denervation at six...
Medtronic today announced findings from a new study of patient preferences for the treatment of hypertension. The findings are set to be presented during the “What's Novel in Interventional Hypertension” session at the 33rd Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics annual meeting (TCT...
At the 12th Congress of the Vascular Access Society (VAS; 6–9 April 2021, online), Ramon Roca-Tey, senior consultant in nephrology at the Fundación Sanitaria Mollet’s Hospital de Mollet in Barcelona, ​​Spain, and president of the Spanish Multidisciplinary Group for...
Natera has announced initial results from the global, multicentre, prospective Trifecta study, which assessed its Prospera with quantification test for kidney transplant rejection and was led by Phil Halloran, director, Alberta Transplant Applied Genomics Centre (Edmonton, Canada). "These new data from the Trifecta study...

Renal Interventions 1 – US

Renal Interventions debuts with a diverse range of hot topics and leading insight from the kidney care field, including: The introduction of a new, race-free approach to diagnosing kidney disease Highlights from the 2021 Vascular Access Society of Britain &...

Renal Interventions 1 – EU

Renal Interventions debuts with a diverse range of hot topics and leading insight from the kidney care field, including: The introduction of a new, race-free approach to diagnosing kidney disease Highlights from the 2021 Vascular Access Society of Britain...
Difficulties in cannulation are currently as pressing as any other challenge facing patients who undergo device-enabled arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation for dialysis. This was a central message presented by Neghae Mawla (Dallas Nephrology Associates, Dallas, USA) at the Paris...
Procyrion has announced the presentation of studies at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics annual meeting (TCT 2021, 4–6 November, Orlando USA and virtual) relating to its Aortix percutaneous mechanical circulatory support device. The presentations include a spotlight on the company's...
Outset Medical has announced that its Tablo haemodialysis system has received the first ever approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for a Transitional Add-on Payment Adjustment for New and Innovative Equipment and Supplies (TPNIES). This pioneering...
In the future, a global approach to help standardise clinical practice guidelines for kidney disease may be the ideal way forward. This was the closing message from Charmaine Lok (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) following a session at the...
Twelve-month results from a first-in-human study of the Wrapsody cell-impermeable endoprosthesis (Merit Medical Systems) for the treatment of access circuit stenosis in haemodialysis patients are “very encouraging”. This is according to James Gilbert, a consultant transplant and vascular access...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to close health equity gaps by providing Medicare patients living with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) with greater access to care, according to a press release. Through the ESRD...
VenoStent has announced successful enrolment in its initial feasibility clinical trial. The clinical trial is testing the safety and efficacy of its 3D-printed bioabsorbable wraps in humans—a new methodology to improve surgical outcomes for haemodialysis patients. Enrolment was completed for...
The first investigational transplantation of a genetically engineered, non-human kidney to a human body was recently completed at NYU Langone Health, New York, USA—marking a major step forward in potentially utilising an alternative supply of organs for people facing...
Strive Health has announced Strive Care Partners (SCP)—a dedicated platform that enables nephrologists to share and succeed in global risk contracts with payors, according to a press release. Strive Care Partners will benefit patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and...
Quanta Dialysis Technologies announced today the results of the UK Dialysis Patient Experience Survey, showing the wide variance in care experienced by UK dialysis patients, as well as challenges faced in assessing self-care and home haemodialysis (HHD).  The survey revealed: ...
Despite the well-known obstacles, it is time for a prospective, randomised clinical trial comparing percutaneous ablation (PA) and partial nephrectomy for the treatment of small renal cell carcinomas—and re-thinking the common practice of watching and waiting, rather than intervening,...
There are multiple barriers to home dialysis initiation, and these disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. Current solutions need to be scaled up, with particular emphasis on educating physicians on home dialysis, improving modality education, increasing support for patients and families,...
Medtronic has announced receipt of a CE mark for its Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system, authorising the sale of the system in Europe. This CE mark approval is for urologic and gynaecologic procedures, which make up about half of all robotic...
Despite an older dialysis population, the proportion and survival of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) in Danish dialysis patients has not changed over a 39-year period. This is the main conclusion of a national cohort study published online in The Journal...
Journey Biosciences—a biotechnology company with a proactive diagnostic screening technology for high-risk kidney complications associated with diabetes, has announced its company launch, and the introduction of its flagship product, NaviDKD. NaviDKD is a diagnostic screening technology that analyses blood-based predictive...
Several subgroups of patients treated with the IN.PACT AV drug-coated balloon (DCB; Medtronic) for arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) demonstrated a “statistically significant” higher rate of target lesion primary patency (TLPP) compared to those who underwent standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA)...
Preliminary clinical results from a first-in-human study assessing the Amplifi vein dilation system (Artio Medical) were presented at this year’s Vascular InterVentional Advances conference (VIVA; 4–7 October 2021, Las Vegas, USA). Data were presented by Surendra Shenoy—an associate professor of...
ReCor Medical has announced that its Paradise ultrasound renal denervation system is now available for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension in Germany. The first hospitals performing the procedure commercially are Heart Center Leipzig, Leipzig and Saarland University Hospital, Homburg/Saar. “Despite...
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) has announced three key clinical leadership appointments to help drive priorities, including improving patient outcomes, adopting connected health technologies to support home dialysis and increasing access to transplantation, according to a company press release. Kathleen...
NOTE: This advertorial is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies This advertorial, sponsored by BD, is intended for readers in the EMEA region only. Rethink fistula creation and maintenance with Tobias Steinke, Ounali Jaffer, Panagiotis Kitrou and...
Merit Medical Systems has announced positive results from a prospective, observational, first-in-human study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Wrapsody—a self-expanding, cell-impermeable endoprosthesis designed for the treatment of arteriovenous (AV) fistula access circuit stenosis and AV graft access...
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies (Bluegrass Vascular) announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalised a new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code and New Technology Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC) assignment for use of the...
Following the release of the European Society of Hypertension’s (ESH’s) updated position paper on renal denervation, Konstantinos Tsioufis, professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens, Athens, Greece and immediate past president of ESH, discusses the use of renal...
DaVita Kidney Care has marked Nephrology Nurses Week by announcing the appointment of Tina Livaudais as its chief nursing officer (CNO). Livaudais most recently served as vice president of clinical services for the National Hospital Services Group, overseeing more...
An implantable bioartificial kidney device (iBAK)—which promises to free kidney disease patients from dialysis machines and transplant waiting lists—has taken another step towards becoming a reality after being awarded a US$650,000 prize from KidneyX. The device’s creator, the Kidney...
Natera has announced the launch of Prospera with quantification, the only cell-free DNA (cfDNA) test for kidney rejection that provides three values—the quantity of donor-derived cfDNA (dd-cfDNA), fraction of dd-cfDNA, and total cfDNA—on every report. Combining these three metrics...
European Society of Hypertension (ESH), the leading hypertension (HTN) society in Europe, presented an updated position paper on renal denervation (RDN) during the eighth pre-ESH congress satellite symposium (10–11 September; Athens, Greece). The paper was recently published in the...
Black transplant recipients and patients who received kidneys from Asian donors had a significantly higher risk of their kidney grafts failing within seven years, according to a new study presented at the European Society for Organ Transplantation Congress (ESOT...
The number of solid organ transplants performed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 plunged by nearly a third (31%) compared to the previous year, according to a new global study presented at the European Society...
ImpediMed, an Australia-based medical technology company using bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) to generate powerful data to improve patient health, has announced that the Sozo digital health platform has been designated as a Breakthrough Device by the US Food and Drug...
Rubicon Founders has announced the launch of Evergreen Nephrology—a company partnering with nephrologists to transform kidney care, according to a press release. Evergreen is focused on transforming kidney care for patients across the USA and believes that nephrologists are...
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) and Cigna have announced an expansion of their national effort to improve health outcomes and lower the cost of care for people living with kidney failure, or end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The new...
A patient-level meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) has shown that drug-coated balloons (DCBs) were “consistently favoured” over percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) to prolong target lesion primary patency and access circuit primary patency in the treatment of dysfunctional haemodialysis...
While the average time spent on a waitlist for a kidney transplant in South Carolina is 42 months, changes to the U.S. kidney allocation system could result in reduced access to kidney transplants and further time on waiting lists,...
Fist Assist Devices has announced that data associated with the p-FACT cohort, a subset of the recently completed, non-significant risk Fist Assist clinical trial (FACT trial) that focused on vein dilation in stage four patients with chronic renal failure,...
A pilot study has begun to assess the antibody response to a third dose of an authorised COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in kidney transplant recipients who did not respond to two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The...
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has released a proceedings document outlining the possible role of renal denervation (RDN) as a therapeutic option to complement medical therapy and lifestyle interventions for patients with uncontrolled hypertension. The document...
Fist Assist Devices has just announced completion of the FACT trial, which evaluated the use of an intermittent pneumatic compression device, model FA-1, to promote vein dilation in patients with kidney disease. The trial’s results suggest the device could...
Through collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Baxter International is using cloud technology solutions to accelerate its company-wide digital transformation. According to a Baxter press release, this transformation will take place across three strategic areas—developing new digital health solutions...
Failure of home haemodialysis (HHD) treatment, defined as a return to in-centre haemodialysis (ICHD), has been associated with a “significant increase” in mortality when compared to continued HHD—a trend that was observed in both the early (first 30 days...
Artio Medical announced today it has completed enrolment in its first-in-human study evaluating the Amplifi vein dilation system. In the study, five patients were treated by Adrian Ebner, head of the Cardiovascular Department at Sanatorio Italiano Hospital in Asunción, Paraguay. "I am very...
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has released a position paper, developed by 16 nephrology experts from 13 institutions, with recommendations designed to navigate future research and innovation addressing the most pressing barriers to kidney transplant access, organ availability, and long-term...
A large, single-centre retrospective study has revealed the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) following pharmacomechanical thrombolysis (PMT) for lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is as high as 22%. PMT is an established treatment for selected patients with acute...
A retrospective analysis published in the Journal of Vascular Access (JVA) has shown that the oversized balloon angioplasty technique to assist arteriovenous (AV) fistula maturation is safe and effective—and allows cannulation of the fistula within hours or days of...
Polar Speed—UPS Healthcare's UK operation—has announced a five-year commercial agreement with Fresenius Medical Care to provide warehouse and transport solutions for the delivery of renal services and treatments to patients, and customers, in the UK. Through this agreement, Polar Speed...
A nationwide survey distributed among 150 randomly selected dialysis facilities in the USA has found that a “substantial proportion” of patients receiving in-centre haemodialysis are hesitant about seeking a COVID-19 vaccination. Notably, this proportion is still thought to be...
Results from a new study support the validity of a score that considers various patient-reported measures and preferences for assessing health-related quality of life, and promoting patient-centred care, in individuals with kidney failure. The study appears in the most...
Hansa Biopharma has announced three-year follow-up data on graft survival rates in crossmatch positive patients who received imlifidase prior to kidney transplantation. As reported in the article, which the company states has been accepted for publication in the American...
Multidisciplinary panel of UK experts agrees on roadmap and optimal stepwise application of interventions for symptomatic AVF stenoses in haemodialysis patients. Ounali Jaffer (London, UK) talks to Renal Interventions about the team's recent publication in CVIR.
Diaverum, a global renal care service provider, has launched its first ever holiday dialysis travel guide in an effort to “empower renal patients worldwide to live out their dreams of travel, whilst maintaining access to the vital, life-saving treatments...
 Nicholas Inston (Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, UK), secretary of the Vascular Access Society (VAS) and chairman of the editorial board for Renal Interventions interviews Christoph Wanner (University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany), president of the European Renal Association (ERA). They talk...
With national guideline writers in the UK and other countries weighing up the role of the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE) from a renal referrer’s perspective, including in primary care, new research finds that both the four- and eight-variable...
This year's American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) policy summit highlighted the challenges and opportunities for researchers and companies involved in safely bringing new, or expanding, kidney care innovations to consumer markets. The consistent messages shared among all 2021...
Alio Medical, a wearable technology company enabling insights through clinical grade real-time data, has announced the close of a financing round totalling US$20 million. The company says it will use the funding to conduct clinical studies on expanded indications and...
DaVita Kidney Care has announced the expansion of its home kidney care programme to include the HomeChoice Claria Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) system, enabled by Sharesource remote patient monitoring from Baxter International. For many patients with kidney failure, choosing a...
DaVita Kidney Care has launched virtual support groups through DaVita Care Connect, a mobile health platform designed for home dialysis patients, which the company says aims to help create a community for those undergoing treatment at home. "Patients treating at...
Kidney Care Partners (KCP)—a US multi-stakeholder coalition representing patient advocates, physician organisations, health professional groups, dialysis providers, researchers and manufacturers—has relaunched the Kidney Care Quality Alliance (KCQA) in an effort to develop meaningful measures to evaluate facility-level quality performance,...
Quanta Dialysis Technologies has announced that it has raised US$245 million in an oversubscribed and upsized Series D financing round—the largest private funding round for a dialysis device company in history, according to a press release from the firm—which...
The largest randomised controlled trial comparing long-term surgical outcomes between two different anaesthetic techniques, the ACCESs study, has just launched in the UK, to test whether regional, when compared to local, anaesthesia during arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation will confer...
Despite the device demonstrating no serious adverse events (SAEs) in a preliminary safety study, researchers believe further enhancements are needed to improve the outcomes associated with the automated wearable artificial kidney (AWAK)-PD system (AWAK Technologies) for peritoneal dialysis patients....
Fist Assist Devices has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for use of the Fist Assist FA-1 device in the USA as an arm massage and increased vein circulation device, and has commenced marketing the Fist...
Medtronic has announced the first patient procedure with the Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. The robotic prostatectomy was performed by urological surgeon Ruben Olivares (Clínica Santa Maria, Santiago, Chile) and, according to a company press release, marks the beginning of the Hugo...
Concept Medical has provided an update on the progress of the IMPRESSION (sirolimus-coated balloon angioplasty versus plain balloon angioplasty in the treatment of dialysis access dysfunction) trial—a prospective, multicentre, two-arm parallel group, randomised clinical study designed to assess the efficacy of...
New research indicates that patients with kidney failure who receive care at for-profit dialysis facilities are less likely to be referred for kidney transplants than those receiving care at non-profit facilities. These findings appear in the Clinical Journal of...
Dialysis provider US Renal Care recently announced it has finished administering a second round of mRNA vaccines to ensure better protection against COVID-19 for thousands of vulnerable patients on dialysis. "The administration of vaccines to our patients and their caregivers...
Monogram Health, a benefit management and care delivery company attempting to transform care for individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD), has announced the closing of a Series B funding round worth US$160 million. The...
A new study, published online in The Journal of Vascular Access (JVA), suggests that arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) contribute to higher survival of haemodialysis patients with COVID-19. Authors Ahmet Murt (Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey) and colleagues urge that end-stage renal...
When it comes to treating steal syndrome, the extent to which the dialysis patient in question is displaying symptoms—as well as their flow rate and the location of their anastomosis—should all be taken into consideration. This concept was presented...
Baxter International, a global innovator in renal care, has announced new data showing expanded haemodialysis (HDx) therapy enabled by the company's Theranova dialyser may reduce cardiovascular events by 35% and hospitalisation rates by 18%. This data comes from a...
Tackling the main culprit, stenosis in the arteriovenous anastomosis and outflow veins, with balloon angioplasty before it is “too late” can boost maturation rates in slow-to-mature arteriovenous (AV) fistulas. Robert Jones, consultant interventional radiologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital...
Fresh evidence on the usefulness of sonography to ease the burden of lung congestion in haemodialysis patients and “promising data” on a long-awaited targeted treatment for immunoglobin A nephropathy (IgAN) were among the highlights of several late-breaking presentations at...
Fresenius Medical Care has made its own dialysis clinics available for the vaccination of its patients against COVID-19. Dialysis patients are an especially high-risk group due to the fact they are on average, over the age of 65, and often...
Acute kidney injury (AKI) treated with dialysis is reported to be a frequent complication in patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Research published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology in late May reveals that machine learning...
Many individuals with kidney failure have been unable to self-isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic because they require dialysis treatments in clinics several times a week. New research that will appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of...
Researchers from the Lawson Health Research Institute at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in London, Canada have reported that a simple medical device reduced swelling after kidney transplantation, as well as shortening hospital stays and decreasing surgical site infections,...
 Andrew Holden (Auckland, New Zealand) presents the latest results from the IN.PACT™ AV Access trial (Medtronic), which indicate “outstanding” target-lesion primary patency rates of 52.2% through 24 months in dialysis patients with dysfunctional arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), offering a “highly-significant advantage” over standard...
Following a successful proof-of-concept study, Gerard S Goh and Markus P Schlaich have embarked upon a first-in-human study to explore the safety and efficacy of combined renal and common hepatic artery denervation in patients with type 2 diabetes and...
The field of vascular access care for haemodialysis patients may look very different in just a few years’ time, with a host of new, innovative technologies currently being developed and tested to help tackle existing challenges relating to infection,...
Those living with kidney disease need better, more relevant patient education to best participate in the decision-making about their treatment, a new study published in the National Kidney Foundation (NKF)’s American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) shows. In a report...
In addition to demonstrating comparable performance in terms of long-term patency, durability and associated complications, early-cannulation arteriovenous (AV) grafts may hold some advantages when contrasted with standard expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft products. That is according to transplant and vascular...
The European Union (EU) Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) takes effect from today (26 May 2021). The Regulation revises quality and safety standards and the range of regulated devices and was first initiated in May 2017, with an initial three-year transition...
Procyrion has announced the treatment of the first patients in a pilot trial to evaluate the performance of its novel Aortix percutaneous mechanical circulatory support (pMCS) device in patients with cardiorenal syndrome (CRS). The company began its trial in...
 Ajay Kirtane (New York, USA) talks to Renal Interventions about the RADIANCE-HTN TRIO trial which compared renal denervation with a sham procedure to see whether or not renal denervation could lower blood pressure out to two months in patients...
Additional randomised controlled data regarding the effectiveness of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) in maintaining arteriovenous (AV) access offers new evidence, but it is freighted with uncertainty. However, specific modelling suggests fewer reinterventions could reinforce economic benefits when the IN.PACT AV...
Ultrasound-based endovascular renal denervation can successfully reduce systolic blood pressure in patients with medication-resistant hypertension, as demonstrated by the results of a late-breaking clinical trial presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 70th Annual Scientific Session (ACC.21, 15–17 May,...
Through its Renal Therapies Group, Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) has introduced the Kinexus Therapy Management Platform—a new connected health platform for home dialysis that supports the management of a patient's peritoneal dialysis therapy on the company’s Liberty...
Medtronic today announced new clinical data from the Global SYMPLICITY registry (GSR) indicating that renal denervation with the Medtronic Symplicity renal denervation system was associated with clinically significant and sustained blood pressure reductions in a real-world hypertensive patient population...
American healthcare firm and global renal care innovator Baxter International has announced US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance of its next-generation Artificial Kidney 98 (AK 98) dialysis machine, which is designed to be a portable and easy-to-use...
In a recent study, Victor Demaerel (University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium) and colleagues found that tunnelled haemodialysis catheter (THC) survival in 352 patients was more than 70% after five years. This finding, they conclude, “supports use for permanent...
Despite currently being less commonly used than metal needles in haemodialysis access, particularly in Europe, plastic cannulas offer a “useful new tool in the box” for renal nurses, thanks to their ability to lessen blood extravasation and reduce the...
In its current form, postprocedural surveillance of arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) used to treat venous stenosis is “little more than supervised neglect”, and should be re-evaluated using the right patient cohorts and treatment strategies. That is according to a discussion...
Transit Scientific has announced CE mark clearance for its XO Score scoring sheath platform, allowing the technology to be used in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) within the European Union. XO Score is...
Discussions at this year’s Charing Cross (CX) 2021 Digital Edition (19–22 April, online) indicated that high-flow arteriovenous (AV) fistulas remain one of the more divisive topics in the field of vascular access. This was most apparent in the outcome...
Invizius has announced the closing of a Series A financing round worth £5.3 million. The Scottish biotechnology company will use this funding to complete a first-in-man safety study next year of its H-Guard Priming Solution, which is intended to...
Metavention, a Minneapolis-headquartered medical device company, has announced the initiation of the MODUS study to treat patients with both type 2 diabetes and hypertension using a minimally-invasive, catheter-based approach. The first procedures in this study were successfully completed at The...
A new wearable device designed to remotely monitor arteriovenous (AV) fistulae function in dialysis access patients uncovered promising data leading one set of researchers to conclude the technology offers hope for improved care and lower costs among a challenging...
iVascular has received CE mark approval for its balloon-expandable covered stent, iCover, a press release from the company states. Balloon-expandable covered stents are commonly used for treating arteriosclerotic lesions in renal and iliac arteries, and for the treatment of aneurysms...
Vascular Therapies recently announced results from its phase 3 clinical trial in which Sirogen showed encouraging arteriovenous fistula (AVF) outcomes in elderly end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Sirogen is the company's proprietary sirolimus formulation for intraoperative local drug delivery to...
BD announced today that enrolment has begun and the first patients have been treated in the postmarket surveillance study, CONNECT-AV. CONNECT-AV is a prospective, single-arm, open-label study that will follow patients treated with the WavelinQ endovascular arteriovenous fistula (endoAVF) system...
A small, randomised trial conducted in a UK dialysis unit has found that ultrasound guidance can improve cannulation accuracy—and this improvement may be most profound in arteriovenous (AV) fistulas that are more difficult to cannulate. These findings, which were presented...
Medtronic recently announced the safety and effectiveness results through 24 months for the IN.PACT AV Access clinical study. The data, which were presented virtually as a Podium 1st at the Charing Cross (CX) 2021 Digital Edition (19–22 April, online)...
Massachusetts-based physician organisation InterWell Health has announced the closing of a Series B funding round worth US$46 million. The company claims this funding round will bring together more than 1,000 nephrologist investors representing 55 different nephrology practices and 31...
Consensus is split over the need for flow reduction in high-flow fistulas to avoid cardiac complications in dialysis patients, polling taken during the Charing Cross (CX) 2021 Digital Edition (19–22 April, online) has revealed. Attendees to the Vascular Access...
Clotted haemodialysis accesses can spontaneously recanalise following a failed thrombectomy and subsequent abandonment, a retrospective review of 3,137 mechanical thrombectomy procedures has found. The study was presented at the 2021 meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR; 20–26...
American medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Pristine long-term haemodialysis catheter—a new haemodialysis catheter with a unique side hole-free symmetric Y-tip distal lumen...
A multicentre clinical trial to assess arteriovenous fistula (AVF)-first and arteriovenous graft (AVG)-first access strategies in older end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on haemodialysis has been deemed feasible following a two-year pilot study investigating the same topic. The findings of...
Shanghai-based renal denervation (RDN) company Brattea has announced the successful completion of a Series B+ funding round worth more than US$20 million led by healthcare private equity fund Kuanping Capital.  According to a press release from Brattea, this is the...
Cricket Health has announced a new kidney care programme specifically designed for late-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. The US company claims its programme—which has been launched to more...
Surmodics recently announced the successful first uses with patients for two devices within its Sublime radial access platform: the Sublime radial access guide sheath and Sublime radial access .014 RX percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) dilatation catheter. Constantino Pena, Andrew Niekamp,...
While there is large variability based on the site of insertion, patient characteristics and previous accesses, fluoroscopically-guided insertion of tunnelled central venous catheters (td-CVC) for dialysis can be considered a “low exposure” procedure, according to a report. The report, which...
“International practice differences exist in cannulation and dialysis provision with some approaches aiming for fistulas to suit the logistics of dialysis, rather than best long-term outcomes for the fistula and the patient” The CX 2021 Vascular Access Controversies Programme is designed to...
Fresenius Medical Care North America and DaVita Kidney Care have announced an expanded agreement to make multiple home dialysis technologies available for patients across the USA. Following this new agreement between the two American companies—which intends to encourage more people...
MedAlliance has announced completion of patient enrolment in the ISABELLA clinical trial with the Selution SLR 018 drug-eluting balloon (DEB) for the treatment of dysfunctional arteriovenous (AV) fistulas in end-stage renal failure patients undergoing haemodialysis. Selution SLR (sustained limus...
NOTE: This video is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies Robert Lookstein (New York, USA; principal investigator) and Andrew Holden (Auckland, New Zealand; principal investigator) discuss the key six-month results and implications from the IN.PACT™ AV...
 A trio of vascular experts including Raphaël Coscas (Paris, France), Alexandros Mallios (Paris, France) and Kate Steiner (Stevenage, UK) discuss the key findings of the IN.PACT™ AV Access trial–which was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine...
New data presented for the first time at LINC 2021 (The Leipzig Interventional Course; 25–29 January, online) support the use of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) as a treatment for dysfunctional arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs). The audience also heard the case for...
Humacyte has announced that the clinical results of five-year outcomes in patients receiving the human acellular vessels (HAV) for arteriovenous (AV) access in haemodialysis have been accepted for oral presentation at the Charing Cross (CX) Symposium (19–22 April, online)....
A tunneled catheter remains the most common access in patients initiating haemodialysis.1 This is most likely because the catheters are ready to use immediately after insertion, with no maturation time needed. As with any other dialysis access, hydraulic performance...
Panagiotis M Kitrou and Nicholas Inston discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vascular access services. Despite the disruption caused, they are optimistic that the pandemic should be viewed as a catalyst for change. It is time to...
NOTE: This video is ONLY available to watch in selected countries and geographies Tobias Steinke (Düsseldorf, Germany), Matteo Tozzi (Varese, Italy) and Robert Shahverdyan (Hamburg, Germany) give their reactions to the publication in the New England Journal of Medicine...
The CX 2020 LIVE Vascular Access Consensus session sparked global interest, with chair Nick Inston (Birmingham, UK) and moderator Domenico Valenti (London, UK) taking questions from 17 countries, spanning South America to South East Asia. The session pinpointed the...
PatenSee has initiated a first-in-human clinical trial to assess its machine vision-based surveillance system, a press release from the company reveals. The trial, led by Benaya Rozen-zvi, director of the Institute for Nephrology and Hypertension at Rabin Medical Center...
Renal artery involvement (RAI) in endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is “highly predictive of the need for postoperative and permanent dialysis,” Anastasia Plotkin (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA) and colleagues write in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS)....
Medtronic has announced the launch of IN.PACT AV drug-coated balloon (DCB) in Japan. IN.PACT AV DCB is indicated for the treatment of obstructive lesions up to 100mm in length in the native arteriovenous (AV) dialysis fistulae in patients with...
Nicholas Inston (Birmingham, UK; moderator) is joined by Jose Ibeas (Barcelona, Spain), Panagiotis Kitrou (Patras, Greece) and Tobias Steinke (Düsseldorf, Germany), for a special Vascular News webinar called ‘WavelinQ™ 4F EndoAVF System – An attractive non-surgical AV fistula option for...
There is no evidence of a benefit from additional paclitaxel-coated balloon use compared to standard balloon angioplasty alone in the context of preserving arteriovenous (AV) fistula patency for haemodialysis, according to as-yet unpublished data from the multicentre, randomised controlled...
Merit Medical Systems recently announced the enrolment of the first patients in its Wrapsody arteriovenous (AV) access efficacy pivotal (WAVE) study of the Wrapsody endovascular stent graft, an investigational device being studied for the treatment of stenosis or occlusion within...
Nicholas (Nick) Inston calls for “more creative solutions” to vascular access challenges, commending interventional radiologists’ innovative reputation as instrumental to increasing the number of treatment approaches available to physicians. Outlining the complexities of end-stage vascular access in an ever-increasing...
Ureteral stents (hollow devices placed in the ureter - the tube between the kidney and bladder) can be used temporarily to relieve urinary obstruction in patients with kidney stones. Despite the use of antibiotics, ureteral stents often become encrusted...

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