Hemodialysis Troubleshooting

Specialties Urology

Published

I'm a Hemodialysis trainee and I have a question regarding wrong placement of header caps on a dialyzer. What will happen if the blue cap is on the arterial end and the treatment has already started?

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You will not get a counter-current flow. In other words, the blood and the dialysate will both be flowing the same way. They are supposed to flow in opposite (counter-current) directions for optimal uf and solute removal.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the Dialysis / Renal / Urology forum

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Specializes in Dialysis.

They're called hansens. Cross flow of dialysate current with blood flow maximizes the concentration difference of waste products in all parts of the dialyzer. Not sure if you would see an immediate difference in clearance if you drew labs but over time the patient would get less cleaning of toxins if you ran every treatment this way.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Dialysis, Plasmapheresis.

I remember when I was new. I went to finish a treatment, and I noticed that the hansens were reversed. I didn't set up the treatment or the machine, but my biggest concern was what just happened to my patient? I notified the MD, he said she didn't get the best clearance today but that it should be no problem. It would be like running slow BFR and dialysate flow rates.

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Specializes in hemo and peritoneal dialysis.

Sometimes the Dr. will order the Hansens to be reversed for a few treatments to help avoid disequilibrium syndrome if the BUN is really sky high. This doesn't effect the fluid removal.

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Thank you for all of your reply. I couldn't find the answer in Google and I knew this would be the perfect place for my question. Thanks a lot, everyone!!! 😊😊

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