Efficiency of High Blood Flow in Increasing Dialysis Efficacy versus Dialysis Complications

Although new hemodialysis methods are not efficient enough, statistics indicate inadequacy of dialysis. Inadequacy of dialysis is a cause of reduced quality of life, frequent hospitalization and increased mortality rates in these patients. High dialysis blood flow can be effective in improving dialysis adequacy. On the other hand, this method has many benefits alongside few complications. The present study aimed to examine the effect of increased dialysis blood flow on adequacy and complication in dialysis simultaneously.

this was a single-group semi-experimental before-and after-intervention trial. All 22 patients who underwent hemodialysis in the past six months 3 times a week. Preliminary examinations were performed using a checklist in each session. The complications were evaluated during every hemodialysis session using a checklist. Adequacy of dialysis was measured for each patient in the fourth intervention sessions.

a significant difference was found between the two methods in terms of mean systolic blood pressure before and at the beginning of dialysis. No significant difference was found between the two methods in terms of incidence of hypotension, nausea, vomiting and muscular cramps. Mean score of dialysis adequacy was as 0.83 ± 0.22 in the routine sessions as 1.19 ± 0.45 in the intervention sessions (increased dialysis blood flow). Paired-sample t-test results showed a significant difference between these two figures (p = 0.000).

findings of this study suggested that although higher blood flow was used in this study compared to previous studies conducted in Iran, a considerable increase was observed in adequacy of dialysis.