Mathematical analysis for internal filtration of convection-enhanced high-flux hemodialyzer.

Structural modifications using a conventional hemodialyzer improved the internal filtration and clearance of middle molecular weight wastes by enhanced convection effect. In this study, we employed a mathematical model describing the internal filtration rate as well as the hemodynamic and hematologic parameters in highflux dialyzer to interpret the previous reported experimental results. Conventional high-flux hemodialysis and convection-enhanced high-flux hemodialysis were configured in the mathematical forms and integrated into the iterative numerical method to predict the internal filtration phenomena inside the dialyzers during dialysis. The distributions of blood pressure, dialysate pressure, oncotic pressure, blood flow rates, dialysate flow rates, local ultrafiltration, hematocrit, protein concentration and blood viscosity along the axial length of dialyzer were calculated in order to estimate the internal filtration volume. The results show that the filtration volumes by internal filtration is two times higher in a convection-enhanced high-flux hemodialyzer than in a conventional high-flux hemodialzer and explains the experimental result of improved clearance of middle molecular size waste in convection-enhanced high-flux hemodialyzer.