Vascular Access - Patients

In order to use dialysis to clean waste products from your blood, a port must be placed, through which your blood is moved to the dialysis machine and back.  This port is called your Vascular Access, and for hemodialysis it's usually either a catheter, a fistula, or a graft.  We explain these below, along with many other things you'll want to know about your Vascular Access.

The menus at left summarize...

• Hemodialysis Access Types
• Arteriovenous Fistula
• Your New Fistula
• Access Visibility
• Washing Your Access
• Self-Cannulation
• Other Vascular Access Educational Resources

For the latest News and Events on Vascular Access for Patients, see our blog .  Scroll down to the "CATEGORIES" section in the right-hand column, to look for more specific topics.

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Page updated February 18, 2015