Abstract
To reduce the transient leukopenia which occurs in all patients during the first hour of hemodialysis with cuprophan, a pre-circulation method using the patient's own blood was used. The procedure consist of circulating the patient's blood in the equipment for 20 minutes before dialysis. Fifteen minutes after starting hemodialysis, the white blood cell count, started as a percentage of the control, was significantly improved from 26.7±3.0% to 50.0±10.6%. This recovery from acute leukopenia was mainly due to a recovery of neutrophiles. Apparently that this is be a good method to reduce transient leukopenia during hemodialysis with a cuprophan dialyzer.
