The Current Status of Home Hemodialysis in the Middle East and its Possibilities in Egypt. A retrospective study.

In the Middle East, home HD was only selected to treat a severely compromised subset of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who met strict criteria, such as being bedridden, wheelchair-bound, mentally ill, or experiencing cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs), amputations, non-union fractures, or significant difficulties accessing in-center hemodialysis. There are less documented intra-dialytic consequences in this benign form of HD. When using home HD, patients with volume overload or cardio-renal syndrome were better able to tolerate excessive ultrafiltration (UF). In newly diagnosed HD patients, the loss of remaining renal function was notably minimal. In addition to using ultrapure dialysate, these advantages were associated with reduced dialysate exposure. However, if Home HD is used three times a week, it becomes more costly and ineffective for the majority of patients. The additional expense is a result of high labour and supply costs. For economic reasons, it is scarcely used in Egypt at the moment.