Toronto hospital promotes overnight hemodialysis
Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 154: 1070
Effective and cost-efficient hemodialysis that takes place overnight while patients sleep at home has been developed by Toronto's Wellesley Hospital. The hospital says patients undergo a gentle and better quality of dialysis that takes about 8-10 hours, 6 nights a week, is less disruptive and provides more dietary freedom for the patient. The Wellesley says anyone who can be trained to do hemodialysis at home is a good candidate; since patients hook themselves up via a catheter, it is not necessary to have a partner at home. Once treatment starts, an observer at the hospital monitors up to 30 patients through the night on a computer connected by modem to the dialysis machinery.
The only program of its kind in the world, nocturnal hemodialysis was pioneered by the late Dr. Robert Uldall, who was head of the Wellesley's renal program. Data indicate that the cost is $22 000 per year, compared with $50 000 for conventional hemodialysis in hospital. In a news release, the Wellesley said the development holds major implications because demands for dialysis will increase as the baby-boom generation ages. The hospital says about 4500 Canadians currently undergo hemodialysis, and the number of new patients is rising by about 10% a year.
| CMAJ April 1, 1996 (vol 154, no 7) |