Method for determining vascular access risk in a hemodialysis patient population

Abstract

A method for determining risk of an adverse event, such as thrombosis or a required intervention, associated with a vascular access includes receiving hemodialysis treatment data associated with the vascular access, deriving a plurality of selected risk factors from the hemodialysis treatment data, evaluating the plurality of selected risk factors over a time period, assigning raw scores to each selected risk factor based on its values over the time period, summing the raw scores for the plurality of selected risk factors to determine a cumulative raw score, and correlating the cumulative raw score with a level of risk of an adverse event associated with the vascular access.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for determining risk of an adverse event associated with a vascular access, the method comprising:
 receiving hemodialysis treatment data associated with the vascular access;   deriving a plurality of selected risk factors from the hemodialysis treatment data;   evaluating the plurality of selected risk factors over a time period;   assigning raw scores to each selected risk factor based on its values over the time period;   summing the raw scores for the plurality of selected risk factors to determine a cumulative raw score; and   correlating the cumulative raw score with a level of risk of an adverse event associated with the vascular access.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein correlating the cumulative raw score with a level of risk includes correlating the cumulative raw score with a final risk score, wherein a higher final risk score is associated with a higher probability of an adverse event for the vascular access. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising prioritizing the vascular access for risk of an adverse event among a hemodialysis patient population. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the adverse event includes at least one of thrombosis or intervention required for the vascular access. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the hemodialysis treatment data includes venous access pressure (VAP), arterial access pressure (AAP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP), and the method further includes calculating a venous access pressure ratio (VAPR) by normalizing VAP with respect MAP and calculating an arterial access pressure ratio (AAPR) by normalizing AAP with respect to MAP. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the number of VAPR and AAPR alerts for exceeding a threshold pressure level over the time period. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the average VAPR over the time period. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the average AAPR over the time period. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the slope of VAPR over the time period. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes a number of hemodialysis treatments that do not achieve at least 90% of a prescribed blood flow rate. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the cumulative raw score is categorized based on a type and location of the vascular access. 
     
     
         12 . A method for determining risk of an adverse event associated with a vascular access, the method comprising:
 evaluating hemodialysis treatment data associated with the vascular access to derive a plurality of selected risk factors relating to VAPR, AAPR and blood flow rate;   evaluating the plurality of selected risk factors over a time period;   assigning raw scores to each selected risk factor based on its values over the time period;   summing the raw scores for the plurality of selected risk factors to determine a cumulative raw score; and   correlating the cumulative raw score with a final risk score indicative of a probability of an adverse event associated with the vascular access.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising prioritizing the vascular access for risk of an adverse event among a hemodialysis patient population. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the adverse event includes at least one of thrombosis or intervention required for the vascular access. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the number of VAPR and AAPR alerts for exceeding a threshold pressure level over the time period. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the average VAPR and average AAPR over the time period. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes the slope of VAPR over the time period. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of selected risk factors includes a number of hemodialysis treatments that do not achieve at least 90% of a prescribed blood flow rate. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the cumulative raw score is categorized based on a type and location of the vascular access. 
     
     
         20 . A method for determining risk of thrombosis or a required intervention associated with a vascular access, the method comprising:
 receiving hemodialysis treatment data associated with the vascular access;   deriving a plurality of selected risk factors from the hemodialysis treatment data, the plurality of selected risk factors relating to VAPR, AAPR and blood flow rate;   evaluating the plurality of selected risk factors over a time period to determine risk factor values including averages, slopes, and number of alerts;   assigning raw scores to each selected risk factor based on its values over the time period;   summing the raw scores for the plurality of selected risk factors to determine a cumulative raw score;   correlating the cumulative raw score with a final risk score indicative of a probability of thrombosis or a required intervention associated with the vascular access; and   prioritizing the vascular access for risk of thrombosis or a required intervention among a hemodialysis patient population.