Haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients admitted to intensive care units.
Hutchison and colleagues report a 10-year experience of dialysis patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in the UK excluding Scotland. Their study is the largest published so far and raises issues of interest to both ICU physicians and nephrologists. Overall, the dialysis patients, although sicker on admission and having pre-existing co-morbidities, do as well as other ICU patients. Their clinical progress after leaving the ICU, however, is less good than for other ICU patients, raising the possibility that the patients might be leaving too early, or perhaps that dialysis patients should be discharged to a high-dependency unit rather than go direct to a renal ward. All in all, the paper by Hutchison and colleagues provides a useful foundation for planning the critical care management of dialysis patients in the UK and elsewhere.
Arulkumaran
Nishkantha
N
Renal and Transplantation Unit, St George's Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London SW17 0QT, UK.
Eastwood
John B
JB
Banerjee
Debasish
D
D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom