Hemodialysis at home an ideal solution for patients
Doing hemodialysis at home has become an effective solution for patients with kidney failure during the current lockdown.
Shanghai's Renji Hospital was the first facility on the Chinese mainland to introduce home hemodialysis, as an advanced treatment for patients with terminal kidney failure.
Patients can enjoy a better quality of life and better treatment quality than those who must attend hospital for dialysis two to three times a week.
A patient undergoes home hemodialysis.
It can also reduce the risk of cross-infection due to gatherings and hospital visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Renji was approved for home dialysis in September 2018. During a trial, doctors picked four candidates who had been having dialysis at the hospital for over three years.
After more than six months training at Renji and undergoing a thorough evaluation and passing a test, the first patient surnamed Luo has been able to treat himself at home since December 2019.
Since then, Renji has been pushed the development of home hemodialysis
Since the current pandemic outbreak in March, dialysis for the 20,000 local patients with kidney failure has become a challenge due to community lockdown, traffic problems and medical resource shortages.
"The home hemodialysis has become a solution for patients," said Dr Lu Renhua, director of Renji's hemodialysis center, which has special medical staff to monitor and direct patients doing home hemodialysis through the Internet.
A doctor monitors a patient with home hemodialysis.
In addition to home hemodialysis, the hospital has set up nine emergency hemodialysis rooms for patients to undergo treatment during pandemic.
To help patients, Shanghai has been designated facilities in each district for hemodialysis for patients with positive nucleic acid tests, who are close contacts with COVID-19 patients or from communities with high infection risks.
Some designated hospitals also have started to carry out hemodialysis service for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The incidence of chronic kidney disease among adults in China is 12 percent and the country has 1 to 2 million people with uremia, or kidney damage.
