Lifesite???

ageless · Sep 19, 2003

Not too complicated, but we phased them out in our area because of the high infection rate compared to other accesses.

Welcome to renal nursing and best wishes!

babs_rn · Sep 19, 2003

What ageless said, not to mention the mortality rate associated with that and the poor clearances they give...they're worse than caths!

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 19, 2003

Ditto... our neprhologists don't use them on our patients. Infection rate too high.

DialysisNurseDA · Sep 20, 2003

Hi Everyone

This is good I hope they are phased out in this clinic as well. Funny is the fact the seminar said they were better. Gave reasons like below.

"The LifeSite Hemodialysis Access System is easy to use and clinical studies with the device have shown that the use of LifeSite is associated with:

High flow rates

Reduced rates of thrombosis

Decreased need for thrombolytic infusions

Low rate of infection

Virtually pain free access "

There was a patient on the audiowave that said he got high blood flows with this system. He explain the filtration process and how by getting higher flow rates he was able to skip a day of dialysis if needed. He said, he quality of life had improved 100%.

Thanks to all

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2003

I have quite a bit of experience with Lifesites. They are kind of hard to access at times, and you need 9 syringes to do a put on with them.

I've had only one pt who used to run at a 400 blood flow rate with his Lifesite.

They are complicated and time consuming. I just started at a new unit last week, and thankfully, we don't have any pts on Lifesites there.

sable · Oct 12, 2003

We are getting some good numbers with out lifesites. BFP up to 500 and some Kt/V over 2.0 c URR's pushing up to 85-90.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 23, 2003

We've had a pt at my old clinic have two PE, which were traced back to his Lifesite.

As for LifeSites being "virtually pain free" accesses, I'm sure many pts would disagree with that.

Many of our pts have a lot of co-morbidities and are in pretty poor shape. The Lifesite rep who came to my old unit told us that Lifesites were meant for healthier pts than ours. The Lifesite device and the company that makes it (Vasca) are both being investigated by the FDA.

Here's a pdf file of the letter the FDA sent to Vasca:

http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/g2045d.pdf

DialysisNurseDA · Oct 23, 2003

Well, I sure have really learned a lot since I inquired about lifesites. At first after reading the website and listening to testimonies I was under the impression that they were better, but now I have heard two many negatives and I understand the site takes a lot of preparation.

Dee