Over a 35-month period straight silicone rubber shunts for long-term hemodialysis have been used at St. Joseph's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario in 30 patients. The average survival time of the arterial cannula varied with the time the patient had been in treatment with the long-term dialysis program: 24.5 months if the patient was admitted to the program in 1967, 14 months if he was admitted to the program in 1968, and 6.6 months if he was admitted to the program in 1969. The main advantage with this type of shunt was that declotting was readily achieved. The average venous-cannula survival time for the present cannula was six months.