Consequences of frequent hemodialysis: comparison to conventional hemodialysis and transplantation

Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2011;122:124-36.

Abstract

The average life expectancy of a person on hemodialysis is less than 3 years and hasn't changed in 20 years. The Hemodialysis (HEMO) trial, a randomized trial to determine whether increasing urea removal to the maximum practical degree through a 3-times-a-week schedule, showed no difference in mortality in the treatment and control groups. Investigators speculated that the increment in functional waste removal in the HEMO study was too small to produce improvements in mortality. To test this hypothesis, the NIDDK funded the Frequent Hemodialysis Network, a consortium of centers testing whether patients randomized to intensive dialysis would demonstrate improved (reduced) left ventricular LV mass and quality of life. The trial has two arms: the daily (in-center) and the home (nocturnal) arms. Each arm has patients randomized to conventional dialysis or 6 days (or nights) of dialysis. The results of the HEMO trial will be reported in the fall of 2010.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / diagnosis
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / etiology
  • Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / prevention & control
  • Kidney Diseases / blood
  • Kidney Diseases / mortality
  • Kidney Diseases / surgery
  • Kidney Diseases / therapy*
  • Kidney Transplantation* / adverse effects
  • Kidney Transplantation* / mortality
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Quality of Life
  • Renal Dialysis / adverse effects
  • Renal Dialysis / methods*
  • Renal Dialysis / mortality
  • Research Design*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Survival Rate
  • Time Factors
  • Treatment Outcome
  • United States
  • Urea / blood

Substances

  • Urea