Evaluation of the Polyflux 6H dialyzer in pediatric patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis.

Hemodialysis remains the only life sustaining maintenance renal replacement therapy option for children who cannot undergo expeditious renal transplantation or who are not medical candidates for peritoneal dialysis. Provision of maintenance hemodialysis to small children entails many challenges, which arise from the limited choices for appropriately sized disposable dialysis treatment components. The dialysis extracorporeal circuit volume, comprised of the blood tubing and dialyzer, should be low enough to prevent hypotension and prevent the need for repeated blood transfusions. We performed a market acceptance evaluation of the Polyflux 6H dialyzer (0.6 m2 membrane surface area; Gambro Renal Products, Lakewood, Colorado) in six pediatric patients (3 male, 3 female, mean weight 24.4+6.5 kg, mean age 10.3+3.8 yrs). We found that the Polyflux 6H Dialyzer provided a trend for improved clearance compared to Fresenius F3 and F4 dialyzers. We found that the Polyflux 6H Dialyzer provided adequate clearance for children up to 24 kg in size and is a suitable dialyzer choice for patients 13 to 26 kg in size.