Lower Hospitalization Rates Observed Among Patients New to Hemodialysis with Relative Blood Volume Monitoring Utilizing Crit-Line®

Researchers Discuss Benefits of Fluid Management for Dialysis Patients at the American Society of Nephrology's 2018 Kidney Week Symposium

WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresenius Medical Care's Renal Therapies Group today announced the results of four studies utilizing the Crit-Line^® monitor that examine how relative blood volume monitoring (RBV-M) can help improve patient outcomes. All four abstracts were accepted for poster presentation at the 2018 American Society of Nephrology's (ASN) Kidney Week Symposium in San Diego, Calif. Two of those studies demonstrate that managing fluid with RBV-M is associated with reduced hospitalizations for patients new to hemodialysis (incident) and provides a positive return on investment.

Lower hospital admission rates were observed among incident patients during the years of RBV-M at nine Renal Research Institute dialysis facilities between 2009 and 2017. This retrospective database analysis of 1,068 incident hemodialysis patients found a reduction between 4.7 and 5.8 hospital days per year when RBV-M was used to manage fluid removal. Based on the reduced hospitalizations, a separate economic model estimated that, due to fewer missed treatments, a positive return on investment could be achieved with Crit-Line^® within the first year.

"Active monitoring of relative blood volume can impact hospitalizations and missed treatments, helping fulfill our primary goal to improve the quality of life for patients with kidney failure," explained Mark Costanzo, president, Fresenius Medical Care Renal Therapies Group. "These new studies highlight the benefits of using a device like Crit-Line to improve dialysis treatments and lower overall healthcare costs."

Fluid management is a critical concern for dialysis patients as both fluid overload and fluid depletion are associated with cardiovascular events and increased mortality. In a paper by the Renal Research Institute (RRI) published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation in September this year, their analysis demonstrated that attainment of certain hourly RBV ranges are associated with improved survival. Another abstract presented at ASN Kidney Week further establishes the link between RBV, central-venous oxygen saturation and mortality.

The four posters looking at the benefits of RBV-M will be presented at ASN Kidney Week on Thursday, Oct. 24 and Friday, Oct. 25. The abstracts are available online at the conference's website:  https://www.asn-online.org/education/kidneyweek/

For more information on FMCNA at the 2018 ASN Kidney Week, visit FMCNA.com/ASN.

For more information about Crit-Line^®, visit http://fmcna-crit-line.com.

Poster Presentations

1. "Lower Rates of Hospital Admissions During a Fluid Management Quality Improvement (QI) Project Utilizing Relative Blood Volume Monitoring (RBV-M) - A Retrospective Database Analysis."
   Authors: Paul Balter, Panduranga S. Rao, Yisha Li, Claudy Mullon, Robert J. Kossmann, Linda Ficociello.
   Poster Board #: FR-PO788
2. "Estimated Revenue Gains Associated with Relative Blood Volume Monitoring (RBV-M) in Hemodialysis (HD) Clinics: An Economic Model Using Real-World Data and a Case Size of 12 Medicare Incident Patients"
   Authors: Melissa M. Rosen, Yisha Li, Linda Ficociello, Paul Balter, Claudy Mullon, Robert J. Kossmann, Gary G. Singer.
   Poster Board #: TH-PO284
3. "All-Cause Mortality in Relation to Intradialytic Relative Blood Volume and Central-Venous Oxygen Saturation Among Hemodialysis Patients."
   Authors: Hanjie Zhang, Priscila Preciado, Lili Chan, Stephan Thijssen, Peter Kotanko.
   Poster Board #: FR-PO813
4. "Reduction in Mean Patient Body Weights and Blood Pressures Were Observed During a Fluid Management Quality Improvement (QI) Project Utilizing Relative Blood Volume Monitoring (RBV-M)."
   Authors: Paul Balter, Yisha Li, Claudy Mullon, Robert J. Kossmann, Linda Ficociello.
   Poster Board #: FR-PO747

About Fresenius Medical Care North America
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) is the premier healthcare company focused on providing the highest quality care to people with renal and other chronic conditions. Through its industry-leading network of dialysis facilities, outpatient cardiac and vascular labs, and urgent care centers, Fresenius Medical Care North America provides coordinated health care services at pivotal care points for hundreds of thousands of chronically ill customers throughout the continent. As the world's largest fully integrated renal company, it offers specialty pharmacy and laboratory services, and manufactures and distributes the most comprehensive line of dialysis equipment, disposable products and renal pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit the FMCNA website at https://fmcna.com.

About the Renal Research Institute
FMCNA's Renal Research Institute achieves its mission to improve the outcomes of patients with kidney disease through research and innovation. RRI's highly developed and specialized expertise in computational biomedicine, exploratory clinical and biomedical research and data analytics underscore the Institute's track record of thinking outside the box and identifying high-value areas. Through alliance and collaboration agreements, RRI has forged strategic research relationships with leading universities in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, fostering RRI's position at the forefront of research activities in the field of dialysis and nephrology. www.renalresearch.com

Media Contact:

Fresenius Medical Care North America
Brad Puffer
Director of Public Relations
brad.puffer@fmc-na.com 
(781) 699-3331

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