Fluid Management News

In a recent study, a simple exercise program carried out at home improved dialysis patients’ walking performance and quality of life. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Many older dialysis patients involved in a qualitative study said they felt voiceless in the decision-making process and were unaware of more conservative management approaches that could help them avoid initiating dialysis.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have carried out MRI scans on patients while they dialyze to study their heart function during treatments, and found left ventricular dysfunction and a decrease in blood flow to the small capillaries in the heart muscle in all patients.

Fresenius Renal Therapies, a division of Fresenius Medical Care North America has launched a device that non-invasively measures hematocrit, oxygen saturation and percent change in intravascular blood volume during hemodialysis (HD) treatment.  The CLiC device is available for purchase for use with the Fresenius 2008T hemodialysis delivery system. Customers who have already purchased 2008T systems can purchase an upgrade kit.

Editor’s Note: The National Kidney Foundation has begun the process of updating its guidelines that are part of the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI). The first update completed is the guideline on hemodialysis adequacy. NN&I will offer these summaries as the guideline reviews are completed.

A new study found no significant survival advantage among elderly kidney failure patients who chose dialysis over conservative management. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), indicate that conservative care may be a reasonable choice for selected older patients.

Patients commonly bring multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) on their hands when they are discharged from a hospital to a post-acute care facility and then they acquire more MDROs during their time there, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

The number of prevalent end-stage renal disease patients in the United States increased more than 3% to 689,930 in the first quarter of 2015, compared to 668,401 in the first quarter of 2014, according to the most recent quarterly update from the United States Renal Data System.

Kidney failure risk equations developed in a Canadian population showed accuracy in predicting the 2-year and 5-year probability of kidney failure in patients with chronic kidney disease from over 30 countries with a wide range of variation in age, sex and race, according to a study in the Jan. 12 issue of JAMA.

Dialysis technology currently in development shares a common theme: simplicity for users and connectivity for staff.