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The danger in between dialysis

By CNN - email

San Antonio, Texas - September 27, 2011

Dialysis is a ritual that's keeping more than 4,000 San Antonians alive. Kidney dialysis gets rid of toxins in the blood by filtering it through a machine. It's the best way to keep some diabetics and others alive, short of a kidney transplant. But it's not perfect.

"Whatever you eat, there are some waste products that normally should be excreted into the urine. And the longer it takes for you to remove that, the higher the levels go up," explained Dr. Wajeh Qunibi of University Health System.

A major study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed heart attacks, hospitalizations and deaths are higher after the two-day interval patients take off. In other words, if a patient goes to dialysis Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the risk of complications is highest on Mondays before they're hooked up to the machine again.

At University Dialysis Northwest in San Antonio's Medical Center, workers help dialyze 116 patients every week. Their services are just a drop in the bucket compared to what would be needed if dialysis were performed, say, daily.

"My own understanding of this is that the more dialysis you do, the better," Qunibi said. "The question is how can you do that from a logistic point of view and who's going to pay for that?"

The bottom line? Three times a week dialysis is lifesaving, but imperfect. Doctors say patients should stick to their diets and medications, especially on the weekends, to keep the risk of complications at a minimum.