Expanded hemodialysis: new opportunities and hopes

Abstract

In the field of hemodialysis technologies, as in other fields of medicine, evolutionary changes are constantly taking place. The innovations are driven by unachieved clinical outcomes and desire to improve the quality of care of patients with CKD 5D. Recent advances in dialysis techniques resulted in the possibility to expand the permeability of dialysis membranes for a wider spectrum of uremic toxins that lead to the enhancement of long-term outcomes improving quality of life and reducing the mortality rate of dialysis patients. The inadequacy of existent dialysis techniques, at least in part, is due to the chronic accumulation of organic retention solutes of middle and large molecules, which are poorly or even not removed during dialysis.

A gradual improvement in the elimination of uremic toxins is observed as a result of the development of new alternative approaches of hemodialysis therapy, such as high-flux hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration, expanded hemodialysis (HDx). However, some techniques have had limited success due to a host number of organizational, technological, financial and human factors. Expanded hemodialysis offers a novel blood purification technology in removal of the large spectrum of uremic toxins, in particular large medium molecules, due to the new structure of the dialysis membrane. There are a number of studies that prove the potential benefits of a new method of dialysis therapy over the previous ones, suggesting a reduction in cardiovascular mortality, vascular calcification and inflammation. In addition, there is evidence of a positive effect of HDx on the quality of life in dialysis patients. In particular, to minimize the manifestations of skin itching, restless legs syndrome, asthenic syndrome.