Why does dialysis patients have bumps on their arms?

Access: You may be referring to the patient's arterio venous graft. This is used to allow the dialysis to be performed. It is where the needles are placed into the patient so that blood can be removed, cleaned and processed, and then returned to the patient.

Trauma: Repeated trauma from the use of the needles to access for avf builds up over time. If happens to some degree in every patient but can happen more in patients who get the same areas "re-stuck" every time. These are called pseudoaneursyms. Best practice is to rotate "sticks" (needle access) as much as possible. Some patients need to have these operated on in extreme situations.

Fistula dilations: We use fistula (shunt) which is a vein that is connected to an artery. The artery pushes high flow blood into the vein to make it large and suitable for dialysis use. That vein is called arterialized vein. The nurses put the needles in that vein to perform the dialysis treatment. The place left from the needle is weakened & after frequent use gives out (dilates) that appears like bumps under skin.

Aneurysm : You may be referring to areas in the dialysis graft or fistula which can form called aneurysms or pseudoaneurysms. The fistula can become dilated and this will look like a lump or bump.