More Dialysys Time

Crap! Just what I need in my life right now… more time on the dialysis machine. My nephrologist came by today during dialysis and told me my last Kt/V result was 1.18 even though my URR was 65%. Minimum clearance for hemodialysis is 1.2. She was fine with the number but the dialysis clinic is unhappy. I think they are regulated very closely by the state department of health, and it looks bad if a patient is not getting adequate dialysis.

Since I’m still using a chest catheter, the maximum flow rate is 350 mL/min and I’m maxed out. A mature fistula can work at 600+ mL/min so more blood flows through the machine and filter. Starting next session, we’re adding 15 minutes each day to my dialysis time. It sucks but I guess it’s better than adding 30 minutes.

Incidentally, about 7% of body weight is blood so at 92.0 kg, I have about 6.5 liters of blood. At 350 mL/min for 3.5 hours, that means the machine can filter 73.5 liters of blood or 11.4 times my blood volume. That filter is not very good. In comparison, for a 70 kg male adult, blood flow through the kidneys is 1.2 – 1.3 liters per minute

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