Benefits vs. risk of intensive hemodialysis

Course overview

Although intensive hemodialysis may address important clinical problems, increasing treatment may introduce risks pertaining to six domains: 1. vascular access complications, 2. infection, 3. mortality, 4. loss of residual renal function, 5. solute balance, and 6. patient and care partner burden. Trials have shown increased access complications and infection 1. In the Frequent Hemodialysis Network (FHN) trials, short daily and nocturnal schedules increased incidence of access complications, most commonly due to infection, although incidence of access loss was not statistically elevated.