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Infectious Complications in Maintenance Dialysis Patients

  • Chapter
Replacement of Renal Function by Dialysis

Abstract

Prior to the advent of chronic hemodialysis, infection was frequently a terminal or preterminal event in patients with end-stage renal failure. During the last decade, better hemodialysis techniques coupled with general advances in medical therapy have improved the prognosis (1–3). However, infectious complications continue to be a major medical threat to patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (4–7). It is unquestionable that the most common type of infections are those related to the blood access device. In this chapter we will review incidence and type of infectious complications that occur in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis, both as documented in the literature and as determined by us in a survey of 445 patients. It seems important to emphasize at the beginning that most of the infections seen in patients with severe renal failure can be accounted for by commonly occurring bacteria and not by unusual or opportunistic organisms. The repetitive exposure of these patients to infectious risk factors during hemodialysis appears of major importance in determining the infectious complications observed.

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Authors
  1. William F. Keane
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  2. Leopoldo Raij
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

    William Drukker M.D. (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director) (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director)

  2. Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, St. Lucas Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    William Drukker M.D. (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director) (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director)

  3. 75 De Lairessestreet, 1071 NV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    William Drukker M.D. (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director) (Formerly Reader in Dialysis Emeritus Director)

  4. Renal Research Unit, Wellcome Wing, The General Infirmary at Leeds, LS1 3EX, Leeds, UK

    Frank M. Parsons B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P. Ed. (Consultant Physician Senior Clinical Lecturer in Renal Medicine) (Consultant Physician Senior Clinical Lecturer in Renal Medicine)

  5. University of Leeds, UK

    Frank M. Parsons B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P. Ed. (Consultant Physician Senior Clinical Lecturer in Renal Medicine) (Consultant Physician Senior Clinical Lecturer in Renal Medicine)

  6. Health Center, University of Connecticut, 06032, Farmington, CT, USA

    John F. Maher M.D., F.A.C.P. (Professor of Medicine, Director Division of Nephrology) (Professor of Medicine, Director Division of Nephrology)

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© 1979 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers bv, The Hague

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Keane, W.F., Raij, L. (1979). Infectious Complications in Maintenance Dialysis Patients. In: Drukker, W., Parsons, F.M., Maher, J.F. (eds) Replacement of Renal Function by Dialysis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9327-3_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9327-3_34

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-247-2227-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-9327-3

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