Most patients who receive hemodialysis treatments have excess fluid in their body that has slowly built up over the course of kidney disease. This extra fluid is the main cause of high blood pressure in dialysis and leads to stress on the heart and lungs.that causes debilitating symptoms and frequent hospitalizations. This trial will test whether a focused program of 4 or 8 weeks of extra ultrafiltration treatments can remove most of this extra fluid. We believe that getting rid of large amounts of extra fluid will result in sustained improvements in blood pressure and symptoms. Ultrafiltration is a gentler type of dialysis that removes fluid but does not clean the blood.
This is a randomized trial of patients who are receiving in-center hemodialysis treatments for end stage kidney disease and have clinical suspicion of fluid overload. Enrolled participants will be randomly assigned in 1:1:1 fashion to either a four-week ultrafiltration strategy, an eight-week ultrafiltration strategy, or continuation of their regular thrice weekly hemodialysis treatments. Each ultrafiltration strategy will add two extra four-hour ultrafiltration treatments per week plus pharmacist-guided tapering of blood pressure medications. We will test the impact of these strategies on primary outcomes of 1. Change in 24-hour continuous ambulatory blood pressure from baseline to 24-weeks 2. Change in symptoms of congestion from baseline to 24-weeks We will also test the impact of the treatment strategies on related symptoms, physical activity levels, hemodynamics. and measures of safety.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
120
Ultrafiltration for 4 or 8 weeks compared to no ultrafiltration.
Northwest Kidney Centers
Seattle, Washington, United States
24-hour continuous ambulatory blood pressure
Blood pressure measured continously for a 24-hour period by wearing a blood pressure cuff on the upper arm.
Time frame: Measurement performed at baseline compared to measurement performed at 24 weeks.
Symptoms of congestion.
Change in sypmtoms of congestion caused by fluid overload which we will access by using the Kidney-modified Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire.
Time frame: Questionnaire taken at Baseline compared the the questionnaire taken at 24 weeks.
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