Hi y’all,
I spent most of last week at the ADC, which was in Seattle for the 50th anniversary of the first chronic dialysis treatments. Here are some interesting things I learned about HD:
– Dr. Belding Scribner (who started doing chronic HD) had a genetic eye condition called keratoconus and had 4 corneal transplants during his lifetime. Because of this, he decided to go into research instead of patient care. (The rest is history!)
– In Japan, 88% of women and 95% of men have fistulas for dialysis
– Dr. Rajiv Saran noted in a keynote address that slower blood flows = MORE FISTULAS. In countries (like Japan…) that do slower HD treatments, fistula rates are higher.
– Dr. Robert Lockridge said that a normal (healthy) GFR is 100-120. Standard in-center HD with a Kt/V of 1.1 = a GFR of 8. Even a Kt/V of 1.5 only means a GFR of 12–less than 10% of healthy.
– Dr. Chris Blagg reported that home hemo is coming to China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, and Taiwan.
– The NxStage Nocturnal HD study is done and off to the FDA