In Reply to: Re: Case 1199_09 -- Management of Concurrent Renal AV Fistula and Renal Artery Stenosis posted by Scott Trerotola on November 10, 1999 at 16:23:39:
It is true that the role of residual renal function is an area of current interest, but it is also true that the role of contrast in diminishing renal contribution in dialysis patients is a complete unknown.
The idea of embolizing the kidney is interesting, but I would proceed from the standpoint that the only problem that the patient has is the fistula. I would do the least involved thing that closes the fistula. I wouldn't mind having to embolize the kidney if I could't effectively take out just the AVF. However, I have embolized whole kidneys in dialysis patients (for hematuria), and they all get post-embolization syndrome. I would avoid this if unnecessary.