Studies were conducted on the microbiological quality of fluids associated with different types of dialysis systems located in six dialysis centers and 14 homes. Included were (i) single-pass systems employing either parallel flow (Kiil or Gambro) or capillary cartridge dialyzers and (ii) recirculating single-pass and batch recirculating systems using coil dialyzers. Microbiological assays were...

Background: Hepatitis B (HB) vaccination is a recommended procedure in all dialysis patients, but its efficacy has not been perfect. In the current study, we aimed to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to find and pool data of the randomized trials evaluating the impact of serum albumin levels on the immunogenicity of HB vaccination in dialysis patients. Methods: Literature searc...

In their article in Critical Care, Sponholz et al. [1] compared two devices: the molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) and single pass albumin dialysis (SPAD). As Sponholz et al. claim, SPAD is not an effective method for achieving a significant decrease in the concentration of bile acids, creatinine or urea, because a single SPAD procedure induces a 7.62 % (median) reduction in the l...

overhydrated patients. This made it possible to relieve the uraemic patient from congestive heart failure and to control arterial blood pressure. Ultrafi ltration is generally applied continuously or intermittently, while the dialysis procedure (diffusion of substances across the dialysis membrane) is going on. During the last few years, short-time dialysis (3–4 hr 3 times a week or every other...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Hypoalbuminemia and hyperphosphatemia have been shown to be strong predictors of mortality in dialysis patients that might not be independent from each other. We prospectively investigated the relationship and interaction between serum albumin and phosphorus with all-cause mortality in an inception cohort of incident dialysis patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, ...