Sapporo Medical Journal

Abstract : Background: Renal failure is one of the most common diseases and might develop to the end-stage level in which need to have hemodialysis to survive. Generally, Arteriovenous Fistula (AVF) created for hemodialysis access and its maturity depends on several factors, including hand exercise. This study aims to evaluate the implications of hand exercises in the process of AVF maturation in patients with chronic kidney failure. Methods: Performing literature search using Pubmed, The Cochrane, and Google Scholar databases were done from 2015 to 2019. All case series, cohort studies, and clinical trials were considered if they met inclusion criteria. Result: From 603 studies, five studies were met inclusion criteria. Four studies showed hand exercises with different protocols from each study. The outcome parameter was varied throughout all the studies. Hand exercise has believed to have a potential effect on AVF maturation. Through ultrasonographic value, diverse findings in the outcome such as arterial and vein diameter and increasing of blood flow measured. One study had assessed clinical maturation in AVF as one of the outcomes of the study. Nevertheless, one study showed no significant effect of hand exercise in ultrasonographic maturation. Conclusion: Hand exercises with different types of exercises can make changes in AVF maturation parameters. However, it needs further accessible evidence study with the same exercise protocol and evaluation so that the effect of t