Sorbent recycling of ultrafiltrate in man--a 45-week crossover study.

Chronic hemofiltration as a treatment for end stage renal disease has been shown to have several advantages over standard hemodialysis including: improvement in well being, increased strength, decrease in hypotensive episodes during treatment and decrease in the degree of hypertension between treatments. The major drawback of hemofiltration as practiced today is the need to replace the large quantities of ultrafiltrate formed with sterile, pyrogen-free replacement solution. We have solved this problem by passing the ultrafiltrate through a sterile REDY Sorbent Cartridge to remove urea, creatinine and "uremic toxins" prior to returning it to the patient via a closed system. We have called this system SRUF for Sorbent Recycling of Ultrafiltrate and have carried out an A-B-A, B-A-B cross-over study (15 week periods) comparing SRUF with standard hemodialysis in 8 ESRD patients previously treated with hemodialysis. Clinical and laboratory parameters measured included: hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood transfusion requirement, electrolytes, aluminum levels, liver function tests, enzymes, lipids, glucose, cardiac function studies, weight, blood pressure, urea generation, urea space, incidence of hypotension and muscle cramps, and questionnaires on well being. The results of these studies can be summarized as follows: SRUF can be performed by the hemodialysis staff as a routine, outpatient procedure for ESRD patients utilizing the machinery and tubing developed as part of this protocol. SRUF, when used as a chronic treatment for ESRD patients, has no deleterious effects and is associated with many of the same benefits ascribed to routine hemofiltration, including improvement in well being, decrease in cramping and decrease in symptomatic hypotension during treatment as compared to hemodialysis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)