What is an Access Flow Test?

[Roadrunner]

I have been reading about Access Flow Tests on this forum.  What are they? 

My husband has been on dialysis for about 1 1/2 years.  Been in two  clinics and is now on home dialysis.  Would he know if someone ran these tests?  When he is watching TV he is often unaware of what is happening unless someone tells him.  Could they run this test without his knowing?  I have all his lab tests and I don't see it listed.  He said he has never been tested except possibly when he had a fistulagram.

Should he be tested?  Why?  How often?

[jbeany]

The flow test tells them how much pressure is in his graft or fistula.  I don't know the exact steps, but when they were doing them, the RN would basically clamp off a line of tubing, note down the pressure results, and do some calculations.  It's possible that they were doing them without him noticing.  They did them once a month in my clinic.  It would show up in his records, but not in his lab tests.  If the results were bad - too much pressure - then I got sent for a fistulagram to check my graft for narrowing or blockages.

I don't know if they do something similar with a cath - can someone with one answer that?

Part of the problem with the NxStage home hemo machine is that it isn't possible to do the same kind of flow test on it that they can do in-center.  Instead, I've learned to watch the fluctuations in the arterial and venous pressures, and watch for when the flash in my needles gains enough pressure to start filling the syringes when I first cannulate.  When I have pressure problems, the arterial pressures start to drop and the venous pressures start to rise.

[BigSky]

The flow test tells them how much pressure is in his graft or fistula. 

I believe its to measure how much blood is flowing through the fistula, not the pressure of it.