2013 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 69-74
In hemodialysis therapy, prescribed blood flow rate (Qb, mL/min) is an important factor that determines the amount of waste removal. It has been reported, however, that actual blood flow rate (aQb, mL/min) is influenced by the needles used for hemodialysis and that aQb is usually lower than Qb. In the present study, we compared five types of structurally different double lumen catheters (DLCs) to evaluate which types of DLC minimize the difference between Qb and aQb. Because the arterial and venous sides of DLCs differ in shape, both sides were evaluated separately. At the arterial access site, Flexxicon®Ⅱ showed a largest decrease (80.4±0.01mL/min), whereas Gam Cath® showed a minimum decrease (23.8±0.55mL/min). At the venous access site, all DLCs showed a reduction by less than 6.58±2.29mL/min. These results indicate that the structure of DLCs influences aQb and the effect is more clearly shown on the arterial side. Difference of aQb has the great influence by the structure of the arterial site, or the difference of arterial cross sectional areas. Especially when performing a setup of a high flow, it is necessary to determine Qb in consideration of the feature of various DLC.
