Better Preparation Before Dialysis Improves Survival
Published: 2010-07-18 19:01:17By: Jody A. Charnow | April 17, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla.—Patients with renal disease who are well prepared to start dialysis are significantly more likely to survive their first year of treatment, a study found.
“Most of the research in the area of predialysis care has focused on getting patients to see kidney specialists early to allow for adequate time for dialysis preparation,” said one of the investigators, Yelena Slinin, MD, of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “Our study revealed that even patients who have been seen by kidney specialists for over a year come to dialysis poorly prepared.”
As part of its Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative, the National Kidney Foundation has issued guidelines to help identify renal disease sooner in order to improve dialysis care. These guidelines recommend that patients should have an arteriovenous graft (AVG) or arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in place prior to the start of dialysis and that they have adequate blood hemoglobin levels and albumin levels.
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