End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is a medical condition in which a person’s kidneys cease functioning on a permanent basis leading to the need for a regular course of long-term dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.

If your kidneys do fail, unless and until you have a successful kidney transplant, you will need dialysis therapy to clean and filter your blood. The first step is establishing dialysis access one of four ways:

A tunneled catheter in your neck—temporary, because the possibility of infection is high.

An AV fistula—taking a piece of a vein from your arm or leg and sewing it into a nearby artery, and allowing the sewn-in vein to enlarge and become thicker, like an artery.

An AV graft—the sewing of a prosthetic graft between an artery and vein in your arm or leg.

Peritoneal dialysis—placement of a small tube, called a cannula, in your abdomen to allow the use of the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum) to filter your blood.

The physicians at The Vascular Experts Rhode Island are uniquely qualified to provide each of these access options and can also maintain their integrity through a simple, minimally invasive, in-office procedure.