Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy provides concise, evidence-based, bedside guidance for the management of critically ill patients with acute renal failure, offering quick reference answers to clinicians' questions about treatments and situations encountered in daily practice.

Hemodialysis (HD) is the commonest form of kidney replacement therapy worldwide with a prevalence rate close to 90%. Despite significant improvements in HD techniques and related devices and solutions, the cardiovascular and all-cause mortality of HD patients remains unacceptably elevated. More recently, there have been significant improvements in the creation and maintenance of vascular access as well as the knowledge of types, classification, and monitoring of uremic toxins and their relationship with inflammation, atherosclerosis and vascular classification, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. More interesting is the innovation in dialysis membranes/dialyzers, which resulted in the creation of the medium cut-off membrane, which enables the safe, simple, and effective removal of middle- and large-sized uremic toxins. This type of HD treatment is called expanded hemodialysis (HDx) therapy, which so far has resulted in significant improvement in the quality of life of HD patients as well as reductions in hospitalization, medications, and non-fatal cardiovascular events. Updates on Hemodialysis discusses these innovations and how they can be used to improve daily practice and achieve the best possible medical outcomes in HD patients.

A comprehensive reference covering all aspects of the clinical management of adult and child dialysis patients. This edition includes seven new chapters including one on EPO use in dialysis patients and one on the HIV positive patient.

The revised, updated Fourth Edition of this popular handbook provides practical, accessible information on all aspects of dialysis, with emphasis on day-to-day management of patients. Chapters provide complete coverage of hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, special problems in dialysis patients, and problems pertaining to various organ systems. This edition reflects the latest guidelines of the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis adequacy and on nutrition. New chapters cover chronic kidney disease management in predialysis patients, frequent daily or nocturnal hemodialysis, and hemodiafiltration. Chapters on venous and arteriovenous access have been completely revised. Each chapter provides references to relevant Web sites.

Even though peritoneal dialysis (PD) is by now well established and its advantages in terms of clinical efficacy, social impact and individual tolerance are acknowledged, it is still underutilized on a global scale. In view of this fact, the publication at hand has two objectives, namely to provide help to identify possible obstacles to a wider application of PD and to advance a project called USS PD: Understanding, Starting and Sustaining Peritoneal Dialysis (initiated by the Department of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation of the St. Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza, Italy).The initial part of this book is thus dedicated to basic principles of PD, as understanding how this technique works is one of the prerequisites to improve the quality of its application and, ultimately, its outcomes. In the second part, in-depth reviews help the physician to identify the benefits and problems involved in a PD program, facilitating the initiation of a new program or the start of new patients on PD. The third part, finally, is dedicated to potential complications and technical solutions designed to solve the problems of the different techniques. This helps physicians to sustain the use of PD after having acquired the know how and the capacity of starting the program. Everyone interested in understanding and implementing PD will highly profit from the papers presented in this publication.

Despite constant significant advances, cardiovascular as well as more general outcomes of hemodialysis treatment remain unsatisfactory. The introduction of innovative 'high retention onset' membranes has led to the development of a new treatment modality called 'expanded hemodialysis' (HDx), which is the focus of this book. This new therapy is likely to benefit end-stage kidney disease patients, thanks to enhanced removal of molecules retained by current dialysis techniques. HDx is simple to set up and application does not require special hardware or specific nursing skills. This book contains emerging evidence and fascinating new hypotheses on HDx. It is highly recommended for all physicians and healthcare professionals who are caring for dialysis patients and are seeking innovation and improved care solutions. It will also be of considerable interest to students and fellows.

This book contains notable contributions from the well-known Vicenza course on hemodialysis and miniaturized wearable devices for renal replacement therapy. The main themes covered in this publication include cardio-renal syndromes as well as new technologies in hemodialysis, new dialysis membranes and techniques, the importance of vitamin D receptors in renal and extra-renal physiology, and the control of risk factors such as blood pressure and lipid disorders. Special interest is placed on new models of organization including large dialysis networks and health care economics. Moreover, acute kidney injury and its impact on the subsequent development of chronic kidney disease are discussed together with the use of modern biomarkers. Microfluidics, nanotechnology and miniaturized dialysis devices suitable for wearable ambulatory treatments are also covered in depth. The publication at hand is a useful tool for consultation by the clinician as well as for those involved in the care of patients with end-stage kidney disease.