Why thrice weekly dialysis?
Hemodialysis International 2004; 8:188-192. With growing experience of the great patient benefits of dialysis done more frequently than the conventional three times a week treatment, we are often asked why we stopped at three times a week dialysis in the mid-1960s in Seattle. This paper explains the reasons for this. Dialysis for chronic renal failure began in Seattle in 1960, when the first patients were treated for 20 to 24 hours every 5 to 7 days using a cooled continuous flow dialysis system run by nurses. With this, patients became sick again a day or so before their next dialysis and so the routine soon became twice weekly dialysis for 10 to 16 hours. Shortly thereafter, because of nerve damage and calcifications, some patients began three times a week dialysis for 8 to 12 hours. All of these treatments were done in the University Hospital or the Seattle Artificial Kidney Center. With development of home hemodialysis in Seattle in 1964, treatment began as 8 hours of dialysis two
