My husband uses a F6 dialyzer and normally has 3.5 hrs tx.

He used to be given 5000 units bolus and on 1st to 5th use of dialyzer, the following hourly infusion: 1.1, 1.2, 1.2, 1.3, 1.3.
This was when his Hb was between 11 to 12.

His Hb has now improved to 12.7. We find that right from the first use, there is now streaking in the lines. On the second and third use, there was significant clotting and we had to discard the dialyzer.

We are located in India, where normally patients who pay for tx themselves, use the dialyzer far more often than the 5 times reuse we follow.

His dry weight is 54 kgs. 3 years back, he had occult bleeding in his stools and was put on low heparin at that time. His Hb was 7 then. There has been no recurrence of this bleeding. He does not take epo, as he cannot tolerate it.

Could you please suggest the appropriate heparin dose for him?

Thanks,

S.Bhagwat

Heparin dose general rule of thumb is 100 units/kg. At 54kg this should be 5400units. So he is about right. One suggestion is to wait 5 minutes when they give the heparin. It takes minutes for the heparin to work, so they need to wait this time period before they connect him.

Hope this helps.