Extracorporeal Hemodialysis in Children

The special role of extracorporeal hemodialysis in the treatment of renal failure has been extensively evaluated in adults,1-3whereas only limited information is available on its use for children.4A number of scattered reports indicate that hemodialysis can be used successfully in children for the treatment of a wide variety of renal and intoxication problems. Some of the clinical conditions in which dialysis has been used in children are: renal shutdown secondary to acute or chronic glomerulonephritis,5,6transfusion reaction,6bilateral cortical necrosis,5meningococcal sepsis,6sulfonamide toxicity,8crush syndrome,8anorexia nervosa8; to remove edema fluid7; for hyperkalemia,9salicylate intoxication,10or in other acute intoxications, and in uremia of unknown etiology.11 The object of this report is to present the results in 11 children, ages 3-15 years, subjected to dialysis during the past 3 years. These cases illustrate the