Introduction:

The recent emergence of medium-cut membranes offers an alternative for the removal of medium-sized molecules and new dialytic therapy, expanded hemodialysis. These membranes are characterised by a larger pore size that could affect the removal of heparin used during hemodialysis sessions.

Objective:

To determine whether there are differences in the need for heparin and the coagulation status of the system and dialyser according to dialysis technique.

Material and Method:

Quasi-experimental study in hemodialysis patients with two study periods, in the first, the patient received conventional hemodialysis or hemodiafiltration and in the second, expanded hemodialysis with medium-cut membranes.

Results:

The dialyser was partially clotted in 10.3% of expanded hemodialysis sessions compared to 19.1% of conventional hemodialysis sessions and 11.4% of haemodiafiltration sessions (p=0.011).

Conclusions:

Expanded hemodialysis offers better final coagulation status of the system and dialyser than other membranes.