I represent Redsense Medical, a medtech company with an alarm that is the first ever developed for the specific purpose to to detect veneous needle dislodgement during hemodialysis. It replaces enuresis pads and similar methods. It’s being launched this year and we expect FDA approval during the summer.
It would be valuable to hear your experiences as professionals on this issue, how often and during what circumstances have you heard of the venous needle disconnecting in home dialysis? What were the consequences? What measures are taken to prevent this from happening?
Thank you!
/Katarina Granstedt, on behalf of Redsense Medical.
In our ten plus years experience of NHD at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, we have not yet, a had a venous needle disconnect with any of our home patients. This does not mean that we do not fear this type of mishap at home, in fact it is our greatest fear. We have, however ,encountered a problem twice with loose connections on the machine, such as transducer protectors on pressure lines, and a loose connection at the top of the dialyzer, both resulting in loss of blood that went undetected as the patients slept, and were not alerted by alarms. With this in mind, I had been charged with finding a way to create a tray for the front of the Fresenius 2008 H hemodialysis machine that would in effect catch the dripping blood and set off a moisture sensing device.
I would be interested in the product you’ve developed as we are always looking for ways to make this, which I believe is the Gold Standard for hemodialysis, a safer therapy for our patients.
Thanks for posting this, Edward. I read our patient message boards every day, and while no-one on nocturnal has yet reported any problems with venous needles coming out or lines disconnecting, one patient did have a severe bleed due to a leaking dialyzer (or tubing connected to the dialyzer). IMHO, two alarms are needed as you’ve noted–one at the access arm and another to pick up whether something is going wrong with the dialyzer or tubing leading to it. It’s great that you’re working on this important concern.