VasQ US pivotal study demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of an external vascular support for arteriovenous fistula creation

Objective: Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation is a commonly performed vascular operation that reports 6-month functional success rates as low as 50%. Recently, a nitinol external vascular support device, VasQ, has shown potential in studies outside the United States (U.S.) to improve AVF outcomes when implanted at creation. Here, the pivotal study results of this novel technology in treating patients in the U.S. are described. Methods: VasQ was implanted in 144 patients at 16 centers across the U.S. who were referred for creation of a new AVF and consented for enrollment in a 2-year, prospective, multicenter, single-arm, open-label study. Brachiocephalic (n = 129) and radiocephalic (n = 15) AVFs were analyzed. The primary endpoint was primary patency at 6 months compared against a performance goal of 55% derived from a systematic literature search. Safety endpoints included device-related events, ischemic steal, infection, aneurysm, and seroma at up to 6 months. Minimum arterial size was 2.0 mm; target veins were required to measure 2.5 to 6 mm. Key exclusion criteria were patients <18 or >80 years, those with known ipsilateral central venous occlusion, target cannulation zone venous depth greater than 8mm, and New York Heart Association class 3 or 4. Results: Patients were 61% male, 53% White, 35% African American, and 14% Hispanic. Mean age was 60 years, and median body mass index was 30.4. Of the patients, 69% were diabetic, 66% were on dialysis at the time of creation, and 70% had a prior access surgery. At 6 months, steal was observed in 2.1%, infection in 0.7%, and no aneurysms or seromas were seen. Primary patency at 6 months was 66% (P <.021 vs performance goal). Physiological maturation was achieved in 92.4% of patients. Successful two-needle cannulation for patients that entered the study on dialysis was achieved in 88% of VasQ AVFs at a median of 56 days. Pre-dialysis patients who initiated dialysis during the study achieved two-needle cannulation in 81.6% VasQ AVFs. Interventions were required at a rate of 1.07 per patient year over the entire study period. Two-year cumulative patency was 76.6% (95% confidence interval, 67.9%-83.4%) with no statistical difference between patients requiring interventions and those that did not. No patency differences were observed between brachiocephalic and radiocephalic AVFs. Conclusions: The U.S. pivotal study results demonstrated improved AVF outcomes and an excellent safety profile with VasQ use relative to traditional AVFs. Under the conditions of this trial, VasQ shows great promise in expeditiously and efficiently enhancing AVF functional success.