Dialyzer Reprocessing

© 2020 Indian Journal of Nephrology | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow Reuse of dialyzers, tubings, and end caps is banned by law in many countries, but is widely practiced in India to reduce cost. An analysis of reuse practices by Galvao (2012) adjusted for covariates concluded that dialyzer reuse per se was not associated with increased mortality although the overall study quality was low. There are variations in the practice of reuse in terms of the method of reprocessing (manual vs. automated), the use of chemicals and disinfectants, and tests of performance. Although the main objective of reprocessing dialyzers is lowering cost, this should not compromise the quality of dialysis and safety of patients. Another concern is the relative environmental load of reprocessing chemicals versus that of discarded dialyzers. 1. We suggest that hollow fiber dialyzers may be reprocessed in order to reduce the cost of the HD procedure. 2. We recommend that units that practice reuse should have an adequate protocol of reprocessing and a reliable system of monitoring. 3. We recommend that only dialyzers that have been validated and are approved for reuse by the manufacturers [Table 1] should be reused. 4. We recommend that the following types of dialyzers not be reused: • Dialyzers with opaque nondetachable headers are impossible to check for clots in the headers. Should the header contain medium-sized friable clots, they may need to be detached in order to remove the clots. 5. We suggest manual method when the reprocessing machine is not available. 6. We recommend chemical disinfectant reprocessing. 7. We recommend heat reprocessing only for polysulfone dialyzers. Dialyzer Reprocessing