Extracorporeal Hemodialysis in Children

The special role of extracorporeal hemodialysis in the treatment of renal failure has been extensively evaluated in adults,^1-3 whereas only limited information is available on its use for children.⁴ A 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,^5,6 transfusion reaction,⁶ bilateral cortical necrosis,⁵ meningococcal sepsis,⁶ sulfonamide toxicity,⁸ crush syndrome,⁸ anorexia nervosa⁸; to remove edema fluid⁷; for hyperkalemia,⁹ salicylate intoxication,¹⁰ or 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