Long Nocturnal Hemodialysis SuperiorJody A. Charnow
April 11, 2008
Patients who switched from short daily hemodialysis say they experienced an improved quality of lifeORLANDO—Patients who switched from short daily hemodialysis (SDHD) to nocturnal daily hemodialysis (NDHD) say they experienced improved quality of life with a more normal lifestyle, according to a small study presented here at the 2008 Annual Dialysis Conference.
John Moran, MD, of WellBound LLC and Satellite Healthcare in Mountain View, Calif., and colleagues studied 11 patients (four women, seven men) who electively switched from SDHD to NDHD on the NxStage System One machine. The patients had a mean age of 53 years and a mean total of 85 months on dialysis. The cohort had been on SDHD for a median of 20 months when they switched to NDHD.
SDHD was performed six times daily for a mean of 165 minutes and NDHD was performed six nights a week for a mean of 458 minutes. After a mean of 13.5 months on NDHD, antihypertensive usage decreased by 55% from the already low requirement on SDHD. The patients filled out a symptom questionnaire to rate physical and mental wellbeing on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is the best, 1 is the worst). The patients indicated improvement in all symptoms in appetite, fatigue, or exertional dyspnea, and especially strong improvement in taste, restless legs, activity, energy level, and ability to work and exercise. All patients said they had a major improvement in sexual function.
http://www.renalandurologynews.com/Long-Nocturnal-Hemodialysis-Superior/article/108942/