Does a patient in chronic renal failure deserve at least one trial with the artificial kidney? At present only a small percentage of patients in chronic renal failure are treated by dialysis. Unfamiliarity with technique and with possibilities of dialysis and ultrafiltration among physicians who treat patients in renal failure is one reason; a negative attitude toward modern, mechanical, physicochemical approaches is another. The question whether the artificial kidney has something to offer to patients in chronic renal failure can be decided only on the basis of experience. With the help of a special punch-card system described for use in acute renal failure,1 an analysis of our results was made to evaluate the effect that dialysis might have on the course, signs, and symptoms of chronic renal failure.
Methods
Treatment.
—The patients were placed on a 30-gm. protein, high-caloric diet as far as was practical 2; occasionally tube feeding