Why is Nocturnal Home Haemodialysis (NHHD) different to Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD)?
In Australia, about 25% of all dialysis patients are on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 75% on haemodialysis (HD). My own unit has some 30 PD and 110 HD patients and closely approximates the average national ‘split’ quite closely. About of our PD patients are on automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) using Baxter Home Choice 2 machines while the other use continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), doing manual through-the-day ‘bag exchanges’. Do not, however, confuse the two techniques. HD and PD are quite separate and use quite different principles. HD effectively ‘washes (or filters) the blood’. Blood is removed from an access device placed in a large blood vessel. Access to the blood is (1) most often via a surgically created ‘fistula’ in the forearm or upper arm or (2) especially in the US, through a surgically inserted artificial blood vessel (graft) in the forearm or (3) from a jugular vein catheter at the base of the neck. The blood is then passed the blood through a filter (di
