We have had 2 NxStage home hemo dialysis cartridge leaks. Both times, Friday & Saturday, it occurred when the fluid (ultrafiltration) was removed first but we had time left on the therapy (dialysate). When it happened, we received a yellow 5 to let us know that the fluid removal was complete. So I bumped up the therapy rate from 8.2 L/hr to keep the fluid fraction at 30%. Then I got a red alarm 35.
I couldn’t resolve the red 35 alarm. NxStage techs told me it was a waste blockage. It wasn’t.I even disconnected the waste line from the PureFlow and drained directly into a tub but it didn’t help. Since I couldn’t get the alarm cleared. I ended up taking my father off and it was too late to return the blood.
The same exact thing happened the next day. However, I was able to work with the NxStage tech and return his blood but we didn’t finish dialysis.
I discovered that there was fluid leaking from the cartridge on both occasions. There was a lot of fluid - all over the PureFlow and all over the floor. After talking to NxStage and my home training nurses, when we did dialysis on Sunday we kept the rates for the therapy below 8.2 L/hr. Just to be safe I also lowered the ultrafiltration rate from 0.75 L/hr to 0.50 L/hr. This added about 15 to 20 mins to the session but I didn’t have any problems with the cartridge.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I’ve talked quite a bit to NxStage about the faulty cartridges and they said they will try to send me a new lot. We have been doing home dialysis for only 1 week. It’s scarey enough without worrying about defective parts.
[quote=Unregistered;14639]We have had 2 NxStage home hemo dialysis cartridge leaks. Both times, Friday & Saturday, it occurred when the fluid (ultrafiltration) was removed first but we had time left on the therapy (dialysate). When it happened, we received a yellow 5 to let us know that the fluid removal was complete. So I bumped up the therapy rate from 8.2 L/hr to keep the fluid fraction at 30%. Then I got a red alarm 35.
I couldn’t resolve the red 35 alarm. NxStage techs told me it was a waste blockage. It wasn’t.I even disconnected the waste line from the PureFlow and drained directly into a tub but it didn’t help. Since I couldn’t get the alarm cleared. I ended up taking my father off and it was too late to return the blood.
The same exact thing happened the next day. However, I was able to work with the NxStage tech and return his blood but we didn’t finish dialysis.
I discovered that there was fluid leaking from the cartridge on both occasions. There was a lot of fluid - all over the PureFlow and all over the floor. After talking to NxStage and my home training nurses, when we did dialysis on Sunday we kept the rates for the therapy below 8.2 L/hr. Just to be safe I also lowered the ultrafiltration rate from 0.75 L/hr to 0.50 L/hr. This added about 15 to 20 mins to the session but I didn’t have any problems with the cartridge.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I’ve talked quite a bit to NxStage about the faulty cartridges and they said they will try to send me a new lot. We have been doing home dialysis for only 1 week. It’s scarey enough without worrying about defective parts.[/quote]
This should be an old problem now, whats the LOT number on those cartridges that leaked on you? If you didn’t know, there was a recall on certain cartridge LOTs and anybody who is still using those affected LOTs may be affected. Your required to throw away any affected cartridges…
The cartridge lot # is 7087708. We just got brand new supplies on Sept. 18. 2007. We are very new to home hemo dialysis. We started training on Sept. 4, 2007.
I talked to NxStage at length and they said the leak that caused the recall in late August was at a different spot in cartridge. It looks like to me that they fixed one problem but incurred another one. The leak was occurring under the left most upright clear tube (there are 2 larger diameter tubes very close to each other near the middle to right side of the cartridge). Before I took the cartridge out of the cycler, I used to flashlight to locate where the fluid was leaking from.
NxStage asked me to send the 2 bad cartridges back to them.
Unfortunately, all the cartridges we have are the same lot #. I’ve asked NxStage to send a different lot #.
[quote=Unregistered;14641]The cartridge lot # is 7087708. We just got brand new supplies on Sept. 18. 2007. We are very new to home hemo dialysis. We started training on Sept. 4, 2007.
I talked to NxStage at length and they said the leak that caused the recall in late August was at a different spot in cartridge. It looks like to me that they fixed one problem but incurred another one. The leak was occurring under the left most upright clear tube (there are 2 larger diameter tubes very close to each other near the middle to right side of the cartridge). Before I took the cartridge out of the cycler, I used to flashlight to locate where the fluid was leaking from.
NxStage asked me to send the 2 bad cartridges back to them.
Unfortunately, all the cartridges we have are the same lot #. I’ve asked NxStage to send a different lot #.[/quote]
I am also using that same LOT number BUT have not yet experienced problems with them. Maybe just maybe I can recall a leaky POD…