Reply to 'Re: 'evaluating patency rates of an ultralow-porosity expanded polytetrafluoroethylene-covered stent in the treatment of venous stenosis in arteriovenous dialysis circuits''

摘要

We appreciate the points raised by Dolmatch (1) concerning the use of the VIABIL biliary stent-graft (W.L. Gore and Associates, Flagstaff, Arizona) for venous outflow stenoses in arteriovenous grafts and fistulae. Although it is certainly not our contention that slent-grafts should be used routinely in an off-label fashion—a point we make clear in our article (2)—our goal was merely to evaluate a timely and pressing unmet medical need confounding a specific patient population when the study was performed. Indeed, the data were obtained more than 5 years ago, primarily at a time when no stent-graft options for dialysis access circuits existed, and any stent-grafts used in dialysis access circuits would, by necessity, be used on an off-label basis.