Comparative efficacy between hemodialysis using super high‐flux dialyzer with hemoperfusion and high‐volume postdilution online hemodiafiltration in removing protein bound and middle molecule uremic toxins: A cross‐over randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Hemodialysis (HD) using super high‐flux dialyzer (HD + SHF) comparably removed uremic toxins to high‐volume postdilution online hemodiafiltration (olHDF). Integration of hemoperfusion (HP) to HD + SHF (HD + SHF + HP) might provide superior uremic toxin removing capability to high‐volume postdilution olHDF. Method The present study was conducted in thrice‐a‐week HD patients to compare the efficacy in removing indoxyl sulfate (IS), beta‐2 microglobulin (β 2 M), and urea between high‐volume postdilution ol‐HDF and HD + SHF + HP, comprising HD + SHF as the main treatment plus HD + SHF + HP 1/week in the first 4 weeks and 1/2 weeks in the second 4 weeks. Results Ten prevalent HD patients with blood flow rate (BFR) above 400 ml/min were randomized into two sequences of 8‐week treatment periods of HD + SHF + HP and later high‐volume postdilution olHDF or vice versa. When compared with high‐volume postdilution olHDF (convective volume of 26.02 ± 1.8 L/session), HD + SHF + HP provided comparable values of percentage reduction ratio of IS (52.0 ± 11.7 vs. 56.3 ± 7.5%, p = 0.14) and β 2 M (83.7 ± 4.9 vs. 84.0 ± 4.3%, p = 0.37) and slightly lower urea reduction ratio. Despite greater dialysate albumin loss ( p = 0.008), there was no significant change in serum albumin level in HD + SHF + HP group. Conclusions HD + SHF + HP could not provide superior efficacy in removing uremic toxins to high‐volume postdilution olHDF. The use of low BFR of 200 ml/min during the first 2 h of HD + SHF + HP session, according to the instruction of manufacturer, might impair the efficacy of the HD + SHF part in removing uremic toxins.