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The Diaphane-program instituted under the authority of the French Society of Nephrology has been steadily expanding since 1972. By December 1977, about 1500 patients treated in 30 public and private Dialysis Centres were followed up by this system. Full coverage of expenses is provided by the participating Centres. The statistical work presented in this report involves 1572 adult patients treated between June 1972 and December 1976 in 24 dialysis centres. The amount of collected data and the duration of the observation period permit to build up evolutive profiles of the population of patients treated in France by maintenance hemodialysis, of the various techniques and strategies used and of the main complications recorded in the patients. 1. Mean age of patients at start of dialysis is steadily increasing, from 40.1 years in 1972 to 48.2 years in 1976. 2. The predominance of male patients, constant over each year, may be explained by an increased proportion in man of chronic glomerulonephritis and renal vascular diseases. The sex-ratio in patients with chronic pyelonephritis is close to the one recorded in the French population. 3. The regular decrease of the mean plasma creatinine level at time of first dialysis recorded since 1972, is probably related to an earlier start of treatment. However, 10.6 per cent of the patients taken on treatment in 1975-1976 still had a plasma creatinine greater than or equal to 200 mg/100ml. 18.7 per cent had a diastolic blood pressure greater than or equal to 120 mmHg, and exsudative lesions at eye fundi examination were found in 33.5 per cent. The delay in initiating dialysis treatment may account for the frequency of early acute cardiopulmonary complications such as pulmonary oedema and pericarditis and also for the increase in the mortality rate recorded during the first year of treatment: 12.1 per cent instead of 6.2 per cent during the second year. This particularly relevant for the younger age group of patients. 4. There seems to be some social disparity concerning the detection of renal disease and the conditions under which dialysis treatment is started: chronic renal disease is detected at an earlier stage and dialysis treatment initiated for lower values of plasma creatinine and of diastolic blood pressure in patients belonging to the "higher income" group of population. 5. The percentage of patients dialysed twice a week is steadily increasing, whereas the average weekly dialysis time decreases, being about 15 hours in 1976. Day and evening dialysis replace overnight dialysis. Disposable flat-plate dialysers are used increasingly. 6. Episodes of hypotension and cramps are the incidents most frequently recorded during the dialysis sessions. Risk factors evidenced in the occurrence of hypotensive accidents are: the female sex, age greater than or equal to 55 years in males, orthostatic blood pressure drop at the end of previous dialysis, weight loss of more than 4 per cent of total body weight during dialysis... more...

Factors associated with an excessive rate of dialysis induced symptomatic hypotension (SH) were analysed in a population of 1110 patients treated by chronic haemodialysis in 32 French dialysis centres. Significant risk factors for SH were female sex, diabetic nephropathy as the primary renal disease, two weekly dialysis schedule instead of three, use of Coil type dialysers instead of parallel-flow or hollow-fibre dialysers, low dialysate osmolarity, low dialysate K, high body weight subtraction during sessions, low predialysis plasma proteins, high predialysis blood urea, and low nerve conduction velocity. On a statistical basis, the results show the predominance of volume depletion over dialysate composition or neuropathy. more...

Hypotensive episodes occur frequently during hemodialysis; they are often sudden and difficult to prevent despite careful clinical control. Their etiology was studied by investigating the hemodynamic response of five patients submitted to ultrafiltration during their three first dialyses. A Swan Ganz catheter was inserted and left in position for 5 days. Simultaneous determination of cardiac output, mean pulmonary artery (PAP) and capillary and systemic arterial pressures were recorded. 10 hypotensive episodes were observed. In 3 patients in whom the first hypotensive episode occurred 10 minutes after the start of dialysis, there was a significant drop in PAP, cardiac index and stroke index while heart rate and peripheral resistance remained unchanged. Paradoxical bradycardia was observed. In 4 patients hypotension was observed more than one hour after initiation of dialysis. Before the hypotensive episode there was moderate elevation of heart rate and peripheral resistance and an insignificant reduction in PAP. Cardiac index and stroke index were diminished. The decrease in MAP was only 2 mm Hg. Hypovolemia is the most important factor in hemodialysis-induced hypotension but other factors such as vagal stimulation, autonomic neuropathy and osmotic disequilibrium can interfere with blood pressure control and trigger hypotension. Methods of preventing hypotension during dialysis, including the infusion of low molecular weight dextran, are discussed. more...

The capacity of chronically hemodialyzed patients to metabolize acetate during conventional hemodialysis was evaluated using a retrospective study in 219 patients dialyzed for up to ten years under similar dialysis conditions. For each patient, and using all available data, a regression line relating the changes of plasma total CO2 during dialysis as a function of the pre-dialysis value was calculated. The intercept of this function indicates the plasma concentration where the losses of bicarbonate in the dialysate is matched by the generation of bicarbonate arising from the metabolism of acetate. This value therefore represents an individual index of the capacity of each patient to metabolize acetate. A value for this index smaller than 18.0 mM was considered abnormal. It was shown that around 10% of chronically hemodialyzed patients are clearly unable to metabolize acetate optimally. This defect is not related to the duration of dialysis, body weight or quality of hemodialysis treatments but is strongly related to sex, 19 of the 22 "acetate intolerant" patients being women. In a prospective study, all the 60 patients of the same population undergoing active dialysis were studied, and this index identified 12 abnormal (11 women, 1 man) patients and 48 normal patients. Plasma acetate measured at the end their dialysis treatments were significantly higher in abnormal than in normal patients. It is concluded: that this index is useful to identify the patients unable to metabolize acetate optimally; that only around 10% of hemodialyzed patients present a severe problem when dialyzed against acetate and should be dialyzed against bicarbonate; that dialysis against acetate does not fully correct the metabolic acidosis even in "normal" patients. more...

The sixth report of the "Diaphane Dialyse Informatique" Program concerns 2,518 adult patients (age 15 and over) treated by chronic hemodialysis or hemofiltration in 33 French dialysis centres between June 1972 and December 1978. 1) The number of centers participating to the program is progressively increasing. Overall duration of follow-up represents 4,192 patient-years, allowing precise evolutive studies of terminal renal failure treated by hemodialysis. 2) Mean age at start of treatment continues to increase. Among 709 patients who started treatment in 1977-1978, 8,8 p. 100 of men and 11 p. 100 of women were over 69 years old. 3) Patients with diabetic nephropathy represent 4,4 p. 100 of all patients dialyzed between 1972 and 1978 and 5,9 p. 100 of the patients starting treatment in 1977-1978. 4) The percentage of patients temporarily treated by peritoneal dialysis before hemodialysis decreases from 32,9 p. 100 in 1973-1974 to 15,9 p. 100 in 1977-1978. 5) In 1978, 65,3 p. 100 of patients are dialyzed 3 times a week with a mean weekly duration of 14,0 h for male and 12,9 for female. 73 p. 100 of the patients are dialyzed during the night. 6) Disposable parallel plate hemodialyzers (71,8 per cent of dialysis sessions in 1978) and hollow fiber hemodialyzers (11,6 per cent) progressively replace disposable coil dialyzers and non disposable Kiil dialyzers. 7) Transient hypotensive episodes during dialysis sessions remain the most frequent complications (21,7 per cent of sessions in 1978). Transient hypotensive episodes are more frequently observed with coils than with parallel plate hemodialyzers or with hollow fiber dialyzers. 8) Mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) +/- SD is 101,9 +/- 21,7 mmHg at start of dialysis and 81,4 +/- 11,8 mmHg when dialysed. During the course of treatment 28,7 per cent of the patients receive long term antihypertensive treatment. In spite of dialysis and antihypertensive treatments 11 per cent of all patients followed up maintain DBP greater than or equal to 95 mmHg. 9) Viral hepatitis remain the most prominent infectious problem with 30 per cent of patients being chronic Hbs antigen carriers. 10) Annual death rate calculated in the 2,518 patients dialyzed between 1972 and 1978 (78/1000) is 12 times superior to the death rate of the French population, adjusted for sex and age to the dialysis population. 43,1 per cent of deaths are of cardiovascular origin. Risk factors for overall mortality are age, sex (male), existence of a vascular or diabetic nephropathy, twice weekly dialysis strategy, elevation of systolic or diastolic blood pressure during the course of dialysis treatment, hypocholesterolemia and to a lesser extent hypotriglyceridemia. On the contrary, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperuricemia do not appear as risk factors for overall mortality or cardiovascular mortality. These results plead for a perfect control of hypertension and to the extension of thrice weekly dialysis for the whole population of patients treated by maintenance hemodialysis. more...

In order to determine whether serum ferritin assay has any advantages compared with usual hematologic parameters, serum ferritin was assessed in 70 hemodialysed patients. It was positively correlated with the number of blood units infused, but there was no correlation with iron treatment, serum iron or the degree of anemia. However, the interpretation of the results is difficult, because of the large dispersion of serum ferritin levels. Therefore, the determination of serum ferritin concentration cannot be recommended as a current method to follow-up and manage anemic chronic hemodialysed patients, especially when the cost of the test is taken into account. more...

A survival analysis was performed in 1,453 patients treated by chronic haemodialysis and prospectively followed up in the computerised French Diaphane Dialysis Registry. Risk factors found for overall and cardiovascular mortality are age, male sex, high systolic of diastolic blood pressure, low body mass index and low predialysis values of cholesterol, triglycerides, haematocrit, urea, creatinine and potassium. These results confirm the importance of optimal blood pressure control. They indicate that the nutritional state may play a more vital role than certain cardio-vascular risk factors found in the general population. more...

A survival analysis was applied to 1,453 patients treated between 1972 and 1978 in 33 French dialysis centers and prospectively followed up in the computerized Diaphane Dialysis Registry. 198 deaths (overall mortality = OM) were registered, of which 87 (43%) were secondary to cardiovascular complications (cardiovascular mortality = CVM). Risk factors for OM and CVM (p values less than 0.05) were age, male sex, nephroangiosclerosis or diabetic nephropathy as the primary renal disease, elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure and two weekly dialysis rather then three. In contrast with the results observed for the general population, a high body mass index and elevated cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid were not found to be associated with significantly increased CVM or OM. On the contrary, low body mass index (less than 20 kg/m2), low cholesterol (less than 4.5 mmol/l) and low mean predialysis blood urea (less than 4.6 mmol/l) were associated with increased OM and CVM, and more especially with high stroke mortality. Results for urea but not for cholesterol remain significant after adjustment for age, sex, weekly dialysis schedule and body mass index. They suggest that, in addition to elevated blood pressure, a poor nutritional state and/or low protein intake may be important factors for explaining the high cardiovascular mortality, particularly for strokes, observed in dialyzed patients. more...

The hypothesis that inequalities may be observed between patients of different socio-professional categories (S.P.C.) was assessed in a group of 1267 men treated by chronic haemodialysis (C.H.) in 34 dialysis centers throughout France and followed up in the computerized DIAPHANE Dialysis Registry. The percentages of manual workers and farmers were found lower than those calculated on the whole active french population. In contrast, the percentages of senior executives and patient with liberal professions were higher. Primary renal disease was detected sooner in patient of the higher S.P.C. than in other groups. Patients of the higher S.P.C. were more frequently treated in university or in private hospitals than in general hospitals. They were more likely on evening or night dialysis schedules than on daylight schedules; they more frequently received hypotensive drugs, vitamin D, calcium, iron, prescriptions of blood transfusions than patients of the lower categories. Survival rates were not correlated with the S.P.C., but the rehabilitation rate, expressed as the percentage of part or full time employments, was greater in patients of the higher S.P.C. Results indicate that, in patients treated by chronic haemodialysis, inequalities in favor of the patients of the higher socio-economic categories are observed and that these inequalities concern both the access and the delivery of care. more...

The effects of a mean ultrafiltration of 2000 ml on hemodynamics during regular hemodialysis (RD) and during sequential ultrafiltration hemodialysis (SUH) have been compared in ten patients on maintenance dialysis. Each patient was submitted to two dialysis sessions at 2 days' interval. The hemodynamic studies were performed with a thermistor Swan-Ganz catheter. The control values of mean systemic arterial pressure, cardiac output, and heart rate were similar with either RD or SUH. During ultrafiltration without diffusion, there was an immediate prolonged and significant decrease in cardiac and stroke indexes and in pulmonary wedge pressure. The mean systemic arterial pressure remained unchanged as long as the total vascular resistance was significantly increased. During the diffusion period of SUH, total vascular resistance decreased, and seven patients became hypotensive. When ultrafiltration was associated with diffusion during RD, the total vascular resistance remained stable, despite a decrease in cardiac index. This was found to result in severe hypotensive episodes, despite a moderate ultrafiltration. These results suggest that diffusion can induce arterial vasodilation and poor hemodynamic adaptation to ultrafiltration-induced hypovolemia SUH, undertaken under careful medical control, appears to be an excellent procedure to deplete severely overhydrated dialyzed patients, but it should not be used routinely as a substitute for RD. more...

Benefits of using bicarbonate (B) containing dialysates instead of acetate (A) dialysates is still controversial. A single blind study was therefore performed using patients as their own control. Thirteen males and 10 females (mean age 44 years), with a poor dialysis tolerance were included in the study. 14 patients were dialyzed one week with dialysate A (A 38 mmol/l, CO3H 0, Na 140, K 1.5, Ca 1.75, Mg 0.75, Cl 108.5) and then one week with dialysate B (A 9, CO3H 29, Na 140, K 1.5, Ca 1.75, Mg 0.75, Cl 108.5); 9 patients were dialyzed one week with B and then one week with A. Measured osmolarity was 302 mOsm/l for dialysate A and 291 for dialysate B. A Unimat dialysate generator from Bellco was used in both cases. Student paired t tests were used for comparisons. Predialysis mean values of body weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, serum Na, K, Ca, P, BUN, and creatinin did not differed significantly with A and B dialysates. Hypotensive episodes (19.6% vs 36.2% p less than 0.05), headaches (5.8% vs 14.5%, p less than 0.05), and vomiting (8.0% vs 18.5%, p less than 0.10) were less frequent with B than with A. Postdialysis blood CO3H, K and P were higher with B than with A (all p less than 0.05). Results confirm, in acute conditions, the better tolerance of bicarbonate dialysis comparatively to acetate dialysis. more...

A study has been carried out to compare over an 18 month period the residual glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measured by the creatinine clearance in two matched groups of 25 patients with end-stage renal disease. One group was treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, the other one by maintenance haemodialysis. GFR was similar in both groups immediately before starting dialysis therapy, respectively 4.3 +/- 2.3 and 4.4 +/- 2.4 ml/min. From the beginning of the dialysis treatment to the eighteenth month there was a significant and progressive decrease of GFR in the group of patients treated by haemodialysis, while in the peritoneal dialysis group GFR and peritoneal clearances remained stable. more...