We have an 8 month old baby who needs to be hemodialyzed because for whatever reason they are not able to do PD at this time.

The Althin Manual states that the machine is not intended for use with neonates. We have contacted Baxter in an attempt to find out what if any real concerns there are about using the machine (we have gotten around the inability to calibrate the blood pump for neonatal lines) but as of yet we have not gotten anyone to talk to us about this.

I have been told (though not personally verified) that they tried to transfer the infant to Johns Hopkins for treatment but it was refused so...the bottom line is that if don't dialyze the infant, it will die for sure.

Any suggestions?

Chuck,

Call John Hess at Baxter in Tampa, 800-553-6898, #1. He knows the machine inside and out.

Ides,

John was the first person we called because he had always been able to help us in the past but, he is one who told us that he could not discuss it. Yesterday afternoon I finealy got some answers from someone much higher up in the food chain.

If anyone else ever runs into this situation, the major concerns are:

1. Blood pump calibration
2. Line clamp not occluding
3. Air Detector not arming
4. UF tolerance of 30 ml/min

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are all due to the small size of the blood lines. Number 4 is just the sum of all the components variances which could pose a problem in a neonate.

Chuck