Reprocessing of hemodialyzers is a well-established practice in the United States. In 1999, 80% of the dialysis centers had dialyzer reprocessing programs. Many researchers, including this author, have studied various aspects of performance and quality control for reprocessed hemodialyzers. Much of the literature associated with these studies confirms dialyzer reprocessing can be a safe and eff...

Hemodialysis was employed to simulate in vivo conditions for growth in mammalian blood, but without phagocytosis, by using the goat and Serratia marcescens as a host-parasite model. The blood stream was shunted surgically via prosthetic tubing from a carotid artery through the hollow-fiber membranes in an artificial kidney hemodialyzer and back into a jugular vein. The dialysate solution concur...

INTRODUCTION Cystatin C could be a relevant residual glomerular filtration rate marker during hemodialysis (HD), and a high cytokine plasma (p) rate is associated with an increase in mortality during sepsis. To the best of our knowledge, cytokines and cystatin C kinetics during and after HD during sepsis have never been studied. In this study, we described p cytokines and cystatin C variations ...

INTRODUCTION The flux of uremic toxin middle molecules through currently used hemodialysis membranes is suboptimal, mainly because of the membranes' pore architecture. AIM Identifying the modifiable sieving parameters that can be improved by nanotechnology to enhance fluxes of uremic toxins across the walls of dialyzers' capillaries. METHODS We determined the maximal dimensions of endotheli...

Recombinant hirudin (lepirudin) is a potent direct thrombin inhibitor that is used particularly for treatment of immune-mediated heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Because hirudin is almost exclusively eliminated by the kidneys, its half-life is markedly prolonged in patients with severe renal insufficiency. Therefore, these patients are at risk for bleeding, particularly because no antidote is ...