Abstract
From July 1987 to August 1990, six newborn infants with acute renal failure were treated by continuous hemofiltration (HF) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maternal and Perinatal Center at Kobe University Hospital and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Takatsuki General Hospital. The hemofilter of our HF system is a polysulfon hollow fiber filter with a 0.02m2 membrane and a total priming volume of 20ml. The mean duration of HF was 55.7hrs (range 8 to 144), and the mean filtrate volume was 4.3ml/kg/hr (range 1.0 to 7.7). The blood urea nitrogen level and the serum creatinine level decreased from 53.0±31.4mg/dl to 42.8±29.0mg/dl and from 3.2±1.7mg/dl to 2.5±1.1mg/dl (p<0.05), respectively. The serum potassium level was corrected from 5.2±2.6mEq/l to 4.9±1.6mEq/l. Body weights dropped from 1984±1437g to 1944±1466g (p<0.1). The hemodynamics during HF were stable. As compared with 4 cases treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD) in our hospital, the body weight and serum creatinine levels of the HF group decreased significantly compared to those in the PD group. The hemodynamics of the HF group were more stable than those for the PD group during these procedures. It is concluded that HF is a safe and effective treatment for acute renal failure in neonate.
