OBJECTIVES To explore clinician beliefs and attitudes about home haemodialysis in global regions where the prevalence of home haemodialysis is low, and to identify barriers to developing home haemodialysis services and possible strategies to increase acceptance and uptake of home haemodialysis. DESIGN Semistructured interviews, thematic analysis. SETTING 15 dialysis centres in Italy, Portug...

Renal failure is a situation in which the kidney fails to function adequately. There are two forms of renal failure acute and chronic renal failure. End-Stage Renal Disease is the final stage of chronic renal failure were in there is a progressive, irreversible deterioration in renal function and the function is substituted by continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), haemodialysis (HD), per...

To investigate the cause of clinically detectable splenomegaly, which is common in patients receiving regular haemodialysis, splenic volume was assessed by isotopic scanning using intravenously injected technetium-99m microspheres in 34 controls and 149 patients with chronic renal failure. Of the patients, 16 had never received dialysis, 10 were undergoing continuous peritoneal dialysis, 94 wer...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effectiveness of sodium ramping (profiling) in reducing hypotensive episodes and symptoms during haemodialysis. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS Thirteen patients who experienced frequent episodes of hypotension and/or symptoms such as cramps, dizziness, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and headache during haemodialysis in th...

We report our experience of the first use of nocturnal home haemodialysis in Hong Kong. The patient, a 40-year-old man with end-stage renal failure, was recruited into the Nocturnal Home Haemodialysis Programme at Princess Margaret Hospital in 2006. He received haemodialysis at home on alternate nights (3.5 sessions per week) for 5.5 to 6 hours per session. After 1 year of nocturnal home haemod...

OBJECTIVE The number of patients requiring haemodialysis has gradually increased in South Korea. Owing to this growth, concerns have been raised regarding haemodialysis quality of care, and healthcare professionals must consider alternatives for appropriate management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, we investigated the association between risk of hospitalisation of out...

In end-stage renal disease, in particularly when treated with haemodialysis, the function of platelets, coagulation and fibrinolytic systems can be disturbed, thus contributing to either thrombotic or bleeding complications. It is important to know whether the currently used haemodialysis procedure itself (by biocompatible membranes and better anticoagulation with nandroparin) affects platelets...

OBJECTIVES To explore the beliefs and expectations of patients and their caregivers about home haemodialysis in Italy where the prevalence of home haemodialysis is low. DESIGN Semistructured, qualitative interview study with purposive sampling and thematic analysis. SETTING Four dialysis centres in Italy without home haemodialysis services (Bari, Marsala, Nissoria and Taranto). PARTICIPAN...

Episodes of hypotension are common during haemodialysis sessions; they are usually related to volume depletion, presence of cardiac disease or both. Fortunately, severe hypotension with loss of consciousness, disappearance of peripheral pulses and pre-arrest is rare during haemodialysis. Such an event mandates a comprehensive assessment after the patient has been stabilized. We present the inte...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke are increased in dialysis patients, and haemodiafiltration has been reported to reduce cerebrovascular mortality compared to haemodialysis. We wished to determine whether haemodiafiltration improves arterial stiffness. METHODS We audited aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements 6 months apart in 3 cohorts of patients: 69 treated wit...