Dry Weight Reduction Intervention Via Extra Ultrafiltration Trial (DRIVE-UF)
Investigator
What is the Drive-UF Study?
This is a 24-week randomized clinical trial of patients receiving in-center hemodialysis with suspected volume excess. Patients will be randomized to one of 3 arms in a 1:1:1 fashion to either a four-week ultrafiltration strategy, an eight-week ultrafiltration strategy, or continuation of their thrice weekly hemodialysis treatments.
What are the goals for the study?
Most patients who receive hemodialysis treatments have too much fluid in their body. On average, these patients carry about 6 pounds of extra fluid. Some patients may have 10 extra pounds or even more. This extra fluid is salt water that slowly builds up during kidney disease, often years before dialysis begins. Some people notice swelling in their ankles; but the salt water spreads throughout the whole body, including under the skin, inside muscles, and in the lungs. Too much salt water is the main cause of high blood pressure in dialysis patients. This can also put stress on the heart and lungs.
We want to study whether 4 or 8 weeks of extra ultrafiltration treatments can remove most, or all, of the extra salt water in patients receiving hemodialysis. We believe that removing the extra salt water will lead to long-term reductions in blood pressure, reduce the need of blood pressure medications, and improve symptoms like swelling, shortness of breath, and fatigue (tiredness). Ultrafiltration is a gentler type of dialysis that removes salt water but does not clean the blood. This study of ultrafiltration is experimental because it has only been used intermittently in the past.
WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?
Luisa Rios-Avila, PhD
Coordinator
(206) 258-9325
lrios1@uw.edu