What is the difference between a fistula and a shunt?

Dialysis shunts.: A shunt is a term for the connection that shunts blood from an artery to a vein, bypassing the microscopic network in the tissues that normally connect them. This allows a high blood flow access for pulling blood from the body to the dialysis filter. A fistula is a shunt that has a direct connection of a native artery and native vein, rather than using an artificial tube to make the connection.

Similar: Both are types of hemodialysis access. Arterivenous fistula (avf) is a connection between and artery and vein, and arteriovenous graft (avg) is implantation of an artificial usually ptfe graft under the skin for dialysis.