Maintenance hemodialysis. Survival beyond the first decade
A. P. Lundin 3rd, A. J. Adler, M. V. Feinroth, G. M. Berlyne and E. A. Friedman
In a retrospective analysis of maintenance dialysis (MD) in a relatively
homogeneous population of 24 patients (18 men, six women) who first
received MD between 1964 and 1968 and who were initially free of other
complicating diseases, we have confirmed that age at initiation of
dialysis, sustained hypertension, and elevated calcium-phosphate product
are significant risk factors for cardiovascular mortality. In patients
without these risk factors sepsis has become the major cause of death,
accounting for five (35.7%) of 14 deaths. The limit for long-term survival
in an MD patient in whom the well-recognized risk factors are prevented or
controlled is not yet apparent.