Nephrology With Joel Topf, MD

Nephrology

Dr. Topf is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, creator and host of the Freely Filtered and Channel Your Enthusiasm podcasts, creator of the Precious Bodily Fluids blog, and co-creator of NephMadness and NephJC.


Hemodiafiltration: Coming to America

Dear readers,

2024 is coming to a close, and 2025 is just around the corner.

Regarding the future, one of the most exciting developments for U.S. dialysis is the introduction and possible widespread availability of hemodiafiltration (HDF). Fresenius has unveiled a machine that allows the production of replacement fluids without replumbing the entire dialysis unit. In honor of this, I have a number of links regarding HDF and the technology behind it.

  • Katie Kwon’s description of the new machine.
  • Links to CONVINCE and NephJC’s coverage of this, the largest RCT of HDF vs HD.
  • Link to a recent large meta-analysis of HDF vs HD.
  • A short thread on Bluesky (where else?) on the quality of life results from CONVINCE and how they compare to daily dialysis.
  • And lastly, a look back at 2024 with a link to NephJC’s annual round-up of the top stories of the year. Here is your opportunity to vote for the top stories that moved nephrology in 2024.

Enjoy the holidays!

Best,

Joel Topf, MD


Articles
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    • Meta-analysis of hemodialfiltration from April of this year:

      Analytical Approach

      We included RCTs evaluating HDF versus HD. Crossover trials and studies with overlapping populations were excluded. Two authors independently extracted the data following predefined search criteria and quality assessment. The risk of bias was assessed with Cochrane’s RoB2 tool.

      Results

      We included 5 RCTs with 4,143 patients, of which 2,078 (50.1%) underwent HDF, whereas 2,065 (49.8%) were receiving HD. Overall, HDF was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (risk ratio [RR], 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-0.91; P<0.001; I2=7%) and a lower risk of CV-related deaths (RR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.61-0.92; P=0.007; I2=0%). The incidence of infection-related deaths was also significantly different between therapies (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.50-0.95; P=0.02; I2=26%).

      Limitations

      In individual studies, the HDF groups achieved varying levels of convection volume.

      Conclusions

      Compared with those undergoing HD, patients receiving HDF experienced a reduction in all-cause mortality, CV mortality, and infection-related mortality. These results provide compelling evidence supporting the use of HDF as a beneficial intervention in ESKD patients undergoing KRT.

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    • In this short thread Eric Weinhandl suggests that the quality of life improvements found in CONVINCE's HDF RCT were more modest than those found in the Frequent Hemodialysis Network's findings on daily dialysis and daily nocturnal dialysis. Swapnil is not impressed with either studies's results.

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    ApEx Pathshala 2024 - 1 month(s) ago

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    • I had the opportunity to go to Mumbai and put on a show for the audience. Roger Rodby and I went all out for our fluid and electrolyte session. We had a blast.

      ApEx Pathshala is a first rate nephrology conference held in Mumbai, India every year. If you have the means I highly recommend it.