Dialysis recovery time: More than just another serum albumin

摘要

All nephrologists are aware that patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis have extremely poor outcomes compared to the general population. Despite subtle differences between countries1 and slight improvements over the last decade,2 mortality rates for patients receiving hemodialysis remain unacceptably high. In the United States, 25% of patients beginning hemodialysis therapy die in the first year, and almost 50% die within 3 years.2 Yet, although these overall statistics are well known, predicting the prognosis for an individual patient remains challenging.