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Length of Dialysis Session Is More Important Than Large Kt/V in Hemodialysis
Author(s) -
Charra Bernard,
Jean Guillaume,
Chazot Charles,
Vanel Thierry,
Terrat Jean-Claude,
Laurent Guy
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
home hemodialysis international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1542-4758
pISSN - 1480-0225
DOI - 10.1111/hdi.1999.3.1.16
Subject(s) - hemodialysis , medicine , dialysis , erythropoietin , blood pressure , ultrafiltration (renal) , dialysis adequacy , anemia , intensive care medicine , cardiology , chemistry , chromatography
Long, slow hemodialysis (3 × 8 hours/week) has been used without significant modification in Tassin, France, for 30 years with excellent morbidity and mortality rates. A long dialysis session easily provides high Kt/V urea and allows for good control of nutrition and correction of anemia with a limited need for erythropoietin (EPO). Control of serum phosphate and potassium is usually achieved with low‐dose medication. The good survival achieved by long hemodialysis sessions is essentially due to lower cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than in short dialysis sessions. This, in turn, is mainly explained by good blood pressure (BP) control without the need for antihypertensive medication. Normotension in this setting is due to the gentle but powerful ultrafiltration provided by the long sessions, associated with a low salt diet and moderate interdialytic weight gains. These allow for adequate control of extracellular volume (dry weight) in most patients without important intradialytic morbidity. Therefore, increasing the length of the dialysis session seems to be the best way of achieving satisfactory long‐term clinical results.