I dialyzed in an acute unit when I was in the hospital. They did not use heparin and instead used a procedure involving rinsing. Can you tell me how this is done and what it accomplishes?

Chris:

Sometimes this procedure is performed to help eliminate potential for extra bleeding by eliminating the heparin used during your treatment. This can be commonly used after a surgery or procedure that requires use of anti coagulants, if a patient's platelet count is extremely low, or if there is a fresh surgical incision that could develop new bleeding from the heparin used in the extracorpeal circuit.

Basically, the treatment is performed in exactly the same manner, but a normal saline rinse of approximately 100 cc's of fluid is done every half hour or as needed. This extra fluid is added into the amount of fluid needed to be removed, so that the patient discharges from the treatment at or near their target (dry) weight.

I hope that this answers your questions.
Carol