System and method to increase the overall diameter of veins

A system for persistently increasing an overall diameter and a lumen diameter of a peripheral vein prior to creation of an arteriovenous fistula or an arteriovenous graft in a patient, wherein the system is configured to increase the velocity of blood in the peripheral vein, the system comprising:

• a pump-conduit assembly to remove deoxygenated blood from a donating vein or the right atrium and pump blood into the peripheral vein, the pump-conduit assembly including:
• a pump configured to pump blood, having a pump inlet and a pump outlet;
• a first conduit configured to carry blood, the first conduit having an inlet configured to fluidly connect to a donating vein or right atrium to remove the deoxygenated blood from the donating vein or to the right atrium, such first conduit comprising a first catheter configured for insertion into a vein and advancement within the lumen of the vein, including into the right atrium;
• and an outlet fluidly connected to the pump inlet;
• a second conduit configured to carry blood, the second conduit having an inlet fluidly connected to the pump outlet and an outlet to fluidly connect to a peripheral vein, the second conduit comprising a first segment comprising a second catheter and configured to connect to the pump outlet and a second segment configured to enable the creation of a surgical anastomosis between an end of the second segment and the peripheral vein using the end of the second segment to attach to the side of the peripheral vein;
• and
• a control unit configured to control the pump and pump deoxygenated blood into the peripheral vein at a rate to maintain a mean wall shear stress in the peripheral vein between 1.5 Pa and 23 Pa for a period of 7-84 days, wherein the control unit and the pump-conduit assembly are configured to pump blood in a manner such that the mean pulse pressure in the conduit fluidly connected to the peripheral vein is less than 20 mmHg.