Typical Hemodialysis in India: A Case Report

We report here a typical case of a patient on hemodialysis (HD) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in India that highlights some of the management issues encountered in a country with an enormous burden of ESRD and major challenges of underdialysis and management of comorbidities. The patient, a 42-year-old multiparous woman with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage V, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertension is a homemaker from a middle-class family, living in a large city, with no family history of CKD. From May 2013 to December 2016, she has been receiving twice-weekly maintenance HD for 4 h (intermittent HD); access was via an internal jugular line initially and then via a left brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF) from late June 2013. Medical problems in this patient included poor medication and dietary compliance, underdialysis, anemia, volume overload, congestive cardiac failure with recurrent pulmonary edema, and hypertensive crisis. In December 2016, she complained of pain in the fistula arm during dialysis, and in January 2017, she developed edema of the arm. Specific endovascular intervention with balloon angioplasty resulted in a resolution of the stenosis of the venous side of the AVF and the edema. Counselling for dietary compliance and drug adherence resulted in good blood pressure control. Unlike in most other dialysis units, we have been able to increase her HD to thrice weekly and institute several ancillary services, including skilled dietary counselling, cardiac care, and regular bioimpedance analysis with favorable outcomes. Thus, a multidisciplinary team approach offering such ancillary services would allow for better management and improved outcomes in patients with ESRD in resource-poor settings.