Home Dialysis News

Nikkiso America, Inc. announced it has completed the acquisition of Baxter International Inc.'s legacy Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) business. CRRT is a therapy used primarily for patients in the ICU in need of blood purification due to acute kidney injury or fluid overload. Nikkiso has been the original equipment manufacturer of the Aquarius CRRT System for Baxter and is extending its presence in the acute renal failure marketplace. The newly acquired global acute renal therapy business will be run out of Nikkiso America, which operates the company's medical, aerospace, and industrial divisions in the United States.

Baxter International Inc. has initiated a voluntary recall to the hospital/user level of one lot of 5% Dextrose Injection, USP and four lots of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP due to particulate matter found in the solutions.

Baxter International Inc. announced Dec. 20 that it has completed CE requirements in Europe for its new VIVIA hemodialysis system. The portable machine is designed to deliver more frequent, extended duration, short daily or nocturnal (high dose) home hemodialysis therapy.

Accurate assessment of iron status is critical to prescribing treatments for anemia in chronic kidney disease and assessing the effectiveness of those treatments. Iron status can be assessed by a wide range of tests, blood tests and more invasive procedures. But which of these tests are most useful?  Both the presence of storage iron and the availability of iron to support ongoing erythropoiesis must be determined. Further, once the results of the tests are received, what level constitutes iron deficiency in patients with end-stage renal disease and indicates a need for an adjustment in treatment?

NxStage Medical Inc. introduced three new products at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2013 meeting in Atlanta last month. The new offerings include the NxStage System One S model, Nx2me Connected Health, and the NxStage dosing calculator.

The Bay Area Association of Kidney Patients recently interviewed Medical Education Institute Executive Director Dori Schatell about the book, "Help I need Dialysis!", that she co-authored with Dr. John Agar. The book includes chapters about coping with a diagnosis, how dialysis works, and the six types of dialysis.

Today, the combined percentage of patients dialyzing at home––thrice weekly, short daily, or nocturnal hemodialysis, and the various forms of peritoneal dialysis––might be pushing past 10%. But what’s important is not the numbers today, but what they could be tomorrow. Some recent observations:

This past March, chief medical officers of 14 major dialysis providers convened a meeting in Chicago. Physicians Tom Parker (Renal Ventures Management), Doug Johnson (Dialysis Clinic Inc.) and Allen Nissenson (DaVita) initiated the meeting. In attendance were the officers themselves, operations personnel and the president of the American Nephrology Nurses Association. We invited NN&I to cover the two-day gathering.

The Medicare program has offered dialysis providers financial incentives to place more patients on peritoneal dialysis. But nephrologists need to know more about the modality option to make for a smooth transition. At the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week session, “Moving the field forward in PD” on Nov. 7, speakers offered ideas on how to expand the reach of the modality and improve technique survival. Peritoneal dialysis, as a modality choice, may have its own natural limits, speakers noted. Waning residual renal function and peritonitis can be two elements that challenge the longevity of the therapy. Looking for markers, such as low albumin, should be considered so that a transition to another modality is not based on “burnout” but on a choice to look for improved adequacy. Reducing the risks of peritonitis has made tremendous progress; some countries have reduced the rate by more than half, the speakers noted. Improvements in connectology and better training of patients (education, home visits, etc.) on how to avoid infection has helped to reduce the risks. Placing a patient on PD also helps reduce the risks that central venous catheters provide for patients who end up on hemodialysis. The "nature of the access" can provide a survival benefit for PD among patients over in-center hemodialysis, particularly in the first two years of therapy. The key to a successful life on PD, noted nephrologist and session speaker Isaac Teitelbaum, is not always about being “obsessed” with comparing survival with other modalities. “It’s about delivering a good quality of life for patients,” and PD has the opportunity to do that, he said.

Debiotech SA, of Switzerland, and AWAK Technologies Pte Ltd., of Singapore, have entered into a partnership agreement to develop and manufacture a small home hemodialysis machine.