A New Method for the Measurement of International Normalized Ratio in Hemodialysis Patients with Heparin-Locked Tunneled Dialysis Catheters

Table 1

Baseline clinical characteristics.

Median age	81 years (minimum 70, maximum 88)
Sex	9 men
	5 women
Indication oral anticoagulant	Atrial fibrillation (n = 12)
	Thrombosis dialysis catheter (n = 1)
	Arterial embolisms (n = 1)
VKA	Warfarin (n = 12)
	Fenprocoumon (n = 2)
Target INR	INR 2–3 (n = 14)
Catheter	Arrow cannon II plus catheter (teleflex medical) 23 cm (n = 9)
	BioFlo^TM DuraMax (AngioDynamics Navilyst Medical) (n =2)
	Others (n = 3)
	All dual lumen catheters
Catheter lock	Heparin natrium (5000 IU/ml, n = 11) (B. Braun)
	Taurolock-Hep500^TM (contains 500 IU/ml UFH and citrate 4%) (n = 2) (TauroPharm GmbH)
	Citra-Lock^TM (citrate 4%, n = 1) (Dirinco N.V.)
Dialysis	Hemodialysis (n = 4)
	Hemodiafiltration predilution (n = 1)
	Hemodiafiltration postdilution (n = 5)
	Hemodiafiltration mixed (n = 4)
	All via Fresenius 5008 or 5008 S monitors
Dialysis filter	FX CorDiax 80^TM (Fresenius) (n =2)
	FX CorDiax 1000^TM (Fresenius) (n = 9)
	Nephral 400 ST^TM (Baxter) (n = 2)
	Polyflux 170 H ^TM (Gambro) (n = 1)
Anticoagulation during dialysis	Unfractionated heparin (UFH) (n = 14)
Mean heparin dose at start (in IV bolus)	31.9 IU/kg
Mean heparin dose during dialysis (in continuous infusion)	22.5 IU/kg