Some NxStage questions

Discussions for Patients, Family, and Friends HD For Patients
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  1. What do the dialysate solution bags weigh?

  2. Think the machine is 15x15x18. Is the 18 from front to back?

  3. Does the stand/table the machine sits on need to be disinfected?

  4. How much of the monthly supplies do you keep in the room where you dialyze and how much do you keep elsewhere?

2

Another question I thought of, do you run the same blood pump speed for SDD on NxStage that you run in-center for somewhat longer txs? Do you use the same ga needles?

3

I know the answer to the first question.

One liter = 2.2 pounds

so the 5 liter bags weigh 11 pounds; the 4.5 liter bags would be about 10.

4

Until a NxStage person can answer this question would like to know from anyone who does SDD. We run at 350 blood pump speed, 800 dialysate flow, 16 ga needles for 4 hours in-center 3x week. With these conditions we get a clearance averaging 2.0. We do not want to run higher than 350 as we think the lower speed is best for the access. We ran at 380 for a short time one tx to see what it would do and it greatly affected the heart. So, how many hrs a day would we have to run on SDD at the 350 blood pump speed? Can a 800 dialysate flow rate be used on SDD, because we had our dialysate flow rate lowered to 500 at one time and it lowered clearance? Also, know that the dialyzer used can lower clearance as we’ve had that experience, too.

5

NxStage is an entirely different system, you will most likely use between 20 and 20 liters of dialysate for your entire run, be it 2 or 8 hours. You can ask the center you will be using to do a calculation for you it is based on your body size and it will give you an estimate of the dialysis time based on various bfrs.

My pressures improved on the NxStage even though I am running a higher bfr. On the Fresenius my pressures were generally in the mid 250’s at a bfr of 350. On the NxStage my pressures start out around 200-230 at a bfr of 450 and within an hour or so both are almost always below 200.

Oh and there is no need to sterilize the table. I wipe it down with bleach on a regular basis, but blood and machine never mix.

Cathy

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