Introduction COVID‐19 is a very high transmission disease with a variable prognosis in the general population. Patients in hemodialysis therapy are particularly vulnerable to developing an infectious disease, but the incidence and prognosis of hemodialysis patients with COVID‐19 is still unclear. The main objective is to describe the experience of our dialysis unit in preventing and controlling the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Methods Preventive structural and organizational changes were applied to all patients and health care personnel in order to limit the risk of local transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Findings The Nephrology department at Sant Joan Despí Moises Broggi Hospital‐Consorci Sanitari Integral is a reference for two satellite hemodialysis centers caring for 156 patients. We combine our own hemodialysis maintenance program for 87 patients with hospitalized patients from peripheral hemodialysis centers. In this area, the reported incident rate of COVID‐19 in these peripherical hemodialysis centers was 9.5% to 19.9% and the death rate 25% to 30.5%. In our hemodialysis program, the incidence rate was 5.7%. Three out of five required hospitalization (60%) and nobody died. Discussion Although the risk of local transmission of the disease was very high due to the increase in hemodialysis patients from peripheral centers admitted to hospital, the incidence rate of COVID‐19 was very low in our own hemodialysis patients. We believe that the structural and organizational changes adopted early on and the diagnosis algorithm played an important role in minimizing the spread of the disease.

Background/Aims: This study investigates the use of blood volume monitoring (BVM) markers for the assessment of fluid status. Methods: Predialysis fluid overload (FO) and BVM data were collected in 55 chronic hemodialysis patients in 317 treatments. Predialysis FO was measured using bioimpedance spectroscopy. The slope of the intravascular volume decrease over time normalized by ultrafiltration rate (Slope4h) was used as the primary BVM marker and compared against FO. Results: Average relative blood volume curves were well separated in different FO groups between 0 and 5 liters. Receiver-operating characteristics analysis revealed that the sensitivity of BVM was moderate in median FO ranges between 1 and 3 liters (AUC 0.60-0.65), slightly higher for volume depletion of FO <1 liter (AUC 0.7) and highest for excess fluid of FO >3 liters (AUC 0.85). Conclusion: Devices that monitor blood volume are well suited to detect high FO, but are not as sensitive at moderate or low levels of fluid status.

No abstract

No abstract