Has anyone here had any difficulties being able to get good Heparin? Is so what alternatives are they using and has anyone used Citrasate acid concentrate in lieu of before?

you can get heparin just not in those doses that you prefer and they have given dilution guidelines . if your a FMC they have given those guide lines if not call them and ask how there doing it good luck

Good luck is right, seems as if everyone is buying any Heparin available up. I just saw on Renal Web that the makers of Citrasate claim that you can use their acid concentrate which has a anticoagulant in it and you won't have to use Heparin. I was just wondering if anyone did this before and how it worked, IF it worked like they say it does. Anything so I don't have to use single dose vials, that is no fun!!

tampatech,

When we did reuse, we studied it to see if using it (along with normal heparinization) would improve our reuse numbers.....it didn't.

Chuck

We are a hospital unit and use Citrasate, mainly in our acute unit, but also in our chronic unit for select patients. It definitely helps control clotting of dialyzer and bloodlines after the dialyzer. I fully recommend Citrasate, it's a great alternative to heparin.

citrasate doesn't work for everyone. We've been using it on a patient with HIT and he still clots off about once/week. I have heard from the manufacturer that they are trialing citrasate baths with higher concentrations of Sodium Citrate in them, but they are not in production yet.

Due to the locus of effect for sodium citrate, it is effective for some and doesn't seem to do anything for others. Just my $.02

when i was doing the ordering i did had difficulty especially if the distributor runs out, so borrowing is another option