Nocturnal dialysis gives patient more energy, time From Spotlight on Health - Summer 2012
For the past six years, Dick Iten of St. Cloud has been a regular in the Dialysis Unit at CentraCare Health Plaza. Until recently, he spent four afternoons each week hooked up to a machine to filter his blood.
Now, Dick is the first to participate in a new program — nocturnal dialysis. He has dialysis just three times a week overnight at the dialysis unit — freeing up his afternoons and allowing him to pursue other interests such as volunteering. After many visits to the diaysis unit, the staff have become like family.
“They are wonderful. I hear about their kids and husbands. Someone is always having a baby and bringing it in to show everyone,” Dick said. |
Dick Iten, St. Cloud, likes to spend time
researching family genealogy while receiving
dialysis treatment through the CentraCare
Kidney Program.
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While in the Air Force, Dick had been stationed throughout the United States and across the world. Born and raised in St. Cloud, he returned home after retirement to get his masters from St. Cloud State University in ’96, going on to teach and work as a reference librarian. His health declined after he returned from a trip to California in 2006. A visit to the doctor showed elevated creatinine levels in his blood. Creatinine is waste bi-product that the kidneys filter from the bloodstream. Elevated levels may indicate poor kidney function.
About nocturnal dialysis
When dialysis is performed over a longer time period, it is a more gentle treatment. Instead of dialyzing 3 to 5 hours during the day, nocturnal patients dialyze approximately eight hours per night. With this longer time period, more toxins and fluids may be removed.
The slower process also decreases the cramping and blood pressure drops common with dialysis. Usually, patients do not report the “washed out” feeling after longer dialysis and say they do not need to take a nap after treatment like they would after shorter treatments. With twice as much treatment, patients can feel better and studies show that they may live longer, too.
Dialysis services at CentraCare Health Plaza had a lower than expected patient death rate and a higher than expected transplant rate than similar dialysis sites, according to Pro-Publica, a New York City investigative journalism group. More than 50,000 outpatient dialysis treatments are performed each year throughout Central Minnesota. To learn more, call (800) 835-6652, ext. 24552.
Learn more about CentraCare Kidney Program |
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