Edit page | Page history | Printable version

AV shunt → arteriovenous shunt

noun

It is a passageway between an artery and vein, which may be congenital, surgically joined (as in for hemodialysis treatments), or pathologically acquired (as in by trauma or erosion of an arterial aneurysm). Surgically, it is created to divert blood from one pathway to another without going through the capillary network.