Introduction:

Vascular access remains one of the most important challenges in all dialysis units due to the complications associated with its use and its significant impact on the morbidity and mortality of renal patients. The three most used types of vascular access are native arteriovenous fistula, graft or prosthetic arteriovenous fistula, and central venous catheter.

Objective:

To analyze and evaluate the current situation and incidence of complications related to different vascular accesses in hemodialysis.

Methodology:

A systematic review was conducted using the PubMed, CINAHL, SCOPUS, and SciELO databases. All original articles published within the last 5 years that aimed to analyze the prevalence or incidence of complications related to any vascular access in hemodialysis in the adult population were included.

Results:

A total of 15 articles were included for analysis. Among them, 14 were observational studies, and one was a multicenter clinical trial. Demographic data of the patients, the prevalence of complications across all vascular accesses, and the incidence of complications for native fistula/prosthetic fistula/central venous catheter were analyzed.

Conclusions:

Native arteriovenous fistula is the preferred vascular access due to its very low complication rates. Among the complications, thrombosis has the highest incidence. The use of central venous catheters is still common, despite having higher rates of complications such as infections and bacteremia, occurring in 10%-17% of the patients.