Adequacy of Hemodialysis among End Stage Renal Disease Patients at Al-Watani Hospital

End stage renal disease is defined as total loss of kidney function, it is common problem worldwide caused by multitude of kidney disease either diabetes or hypertension, it is diagnosed by several laboratory and imaging diagnostic procedures. Hemodailysis is one of the treatment options in renal replacement therapy and many studies have shown strong correlation between hemodialysis dose and clinical outcome measured by kt/v. In the West Bank area of Palestine there are 8 dialysis centers serving 350 patients (at present), these units lack well trained technicians nephrologists and machines. The nurse patient ratio is 1:5 and due to limited access to dialysis units patients are noncompliance. The current study, aimed at evaluating hemodialysis adequacy among hemodialysis patients (88; 56.8% males, 43.2% females) enrolled at Al-Watani Hospital center at the city of Nablus. Data collected during June through July 2006 in a specially designed questionnaire. Data collected through direct interview after reviewing medical records of each patient and recirculation test carried out at the same dialysis session. The results showed inadequate dialysis dose among 64% of the enrolled patients. Females showed a better clearance rate (44.7%) compared to males (32%). Percentage differences for kt/v values among males and females were statistically insignificant (P = 0.429). It was difficult to link between the other tested demographic variables and clearance rates estimated by kt/v value. A strong association between higher clearance rates and both increased dialysis duration of each session (4hours; 69.2%) and frequency of dialysis per week (3 times/week; 48.3%) was noted and differences for both variables were statistically significant (P = 000). There was clear trend in improvement in kt/v values with increased ultra filtration. Low recirculation resulted in better dialysis adequacy (0-10%; 70.8% with kt/v ? 1.2). Diabetic nephropathy represented 44.3% with a clearance rate of 28.2% (kt/v ? 1.2). Clearance rates of 42.9% and 71.4% found among those suffering from glomerulonephrities and gouty, respectively. Hypertension cases represented by 2.3% of the study population, thus indicating that hypertension is not a major cause of ESRD among our population. The results also showed that 68.2% of the study population was with AVF access for circulation and 42.3% of this group was with an acceptable clearance rates (kt/v ? 1.2). Subclavian access was the major access among the rest of the patients with a clearance rate of 28.5%. Better clearance rates found in association with absence of patient complains (45.8% versus 29.7%). The findings of better clearance rates among those without any residual kidney function (44.3%) compared to those with some residual function (22.2%) was not clear and requires further investigations. Our findings clearly showed that with increasing time and frequency of dialysis, blood flow rates, low recirculation percentages and reduction of intradialytic complain are associated with better dialysis adequacy. In accordance with such findings, the need for adoption and implementation of internationally used practice guidelines is essential in our dialysis system.

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