Principles and practice of hemofiltration and hemodiafiltration

There is growing interest in the convective dialysis therapies, hemofiltration (HF) and hemodiafiltration (HDF). Both require dialysis membranes which are highly permeable to solutes as well as fluid, and in both cases large volumes of ultrafiltration are the condition for convective transport. In HDF the convection is combined with diffusion, and as a consequence, maximum clearance over the entire molecular weight spectrum is achieved. Optimal forms of HDF provide urea clearance 10-15% higher than the corresponding diffusive mode. The larger the solute, the greater is the impact of convection, and beta2-microglobulin (beta2m) levels may be up to 70% reduced. Traditional postdilution HF provides high clearance of medium sized and large molecules. Satisfactory clearance of small solutes requires blood flows in excess of 500 ml/min. With access to practically unlimited volumes of substitution solution through on-line ultrafiltration, predilution HF can now be used. This increases the clearance of small solutes to an acceptable range. For HDF as well as HF, large patient populations consistently treated for longer periods of time are needed to make valid outcome comparisons with other therapies.