BACKGROUND: At the end of the last century, level II scientific evidence supported higher survival rates for alternative haemodialysis (HD) techniques when compared with conventional HD, whose five-year life expectancy in Europe was below 40%. Our incident patients participated in an unconventional HD strategy from the year 2000, with the aim of assessing its influence on survival. METHOD: A cohort study on 183 incident HD patients between 2000 and 2010. At the beginning of HD, we evaluated a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Charlson index (ChI). In the year 2000, we began the unconventional HD strategy that included protocols of biocompatible high flux HD, dry weight target, a schedule of three weekly five hour sessions (HD 5h x 3) and from 2003, in combination with the foregoing, we began a schedule of four hour HD sessions on alternate days including weekends (every other day dialysis: EODD) for higher risk incident patients. RESULTS: Of the 183 incident patients in the HD programme, 84 were dialysed in the 5hx3 HD schedule and 99 in EODD. The mean age was 60.6 ± 13.8 years, 31.7% were older than 70, 43% were diabetic, with CVD sufferers at 58.5% and the mean ChI was 4.55. Survival (%) from the first to the fifth year was 92, 82, 75, 62 and 55, with a median of 5.65 years (confidence interval [CI] 4.18-7.11) and a mean of 5.4 (CI 4.75-6.1). CONCLUSIONS: The unconventional HD strategy that we applied to incident patients in the technique resulted in good survival.
BACKGROUND: At the end of the last century, level II scientific evidence supported higher survival rates for alternative haemodialysis (HD) techniques when compared with conventional HD, whose five-year life expectancy in Europe was below 40%. Our incident patients participated in an unconventional HD strategy from the year 2000, with the aim of assessing its influence on survival. METHOD: A cohort study on 183 incident HDpatients between 2000 and 2010. At the beginning of HD, we evaluated a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Charlson index (ChI). In the year 2000, we began the unconventional HD strategy that included protocols of biocompatible high flux HD, dry weight target, a schedule of three weekly five hour sessions (HD 5h x 3) and from 2003, in combination with the foregoing, we began a schedule of four hour HD sessions on alternate days including weekends (every other day dialysis: EODD) for higher risk incident patients. RESULTS: Of the 183 incident patients in the HD programme, 84 were dialysed in the 5hx3 HD schedule and 99 in EODD. The mean age was 60.6 ± 13.8 years, 31.7% were older than 70, 43% were diabetic, with CVD sufferers at 58.5% and the mean ChI was 4.55. Survival (%) from the first to the fifth year was 92, 82, 75, 62 and 55, with a median of 5.65 years (confidence interval [CI] 4.18-7.11) and a mean of 5.4 (CI 4.75-6.1). CONCLUSIONS: The unconventional HD strategy that we applied to incident patients in the technique resulted in good survival.