Status of dialyser reuse in Korea

Dialyser reuse treatments in Korea were first practised at a facility in 1985. Until 1999, there was only one facility practising dialyser reuse treatments, but the reuse practice has gradually increased since 1999. The purpose of this study was to gather and analyse the current (April 2002) dialyser reuse treatment data in Korea.

Data was collected via a questionnaire sent to the each hospital that reuses the dialyser, and we received a response from 26 out of 29 facilities (89.7%). Twenty-nine facilities comprised 7.7% (29 of 376) of the total nationwide haemodialysis facilities in Korea. The percentage of patients on dialyser reuse treatments was 6.2% (1234 of 20,010). All facilities used an automated reuse processing technique for dialyser reuse and 22 facilities used a peracetic acid mixture (PAM) without hypochlorite. There was one facility that used the heated citric acid method. Eighty per cent of facilities used only high flux membranes (Kuf > or = 20 mL/h per mmHg) and 12% of the facilities used both high and low flux membranes. The average number of the reuse treatments was 15-fold (range 10-22) and the average of the maximum number of reuse treatments was 20-fold (range 10-50).

Although dialyser reuse treatments are not a common practice in Korea, the reuse programs are steadily increasing. Strict quality control and further regulations regarding the reuse program should be promptly enacted to provide a better quality of haemodialysis treatment for patients in Korea.