The increase in dialysis injuries over the last several years has caused a parallel increase of concerns in doctors and patients. In 2010 more than 900 patients suffered heart attacks during dialysis treatment, a truly shocking number that sparked researchers into action. Technicians and doctors began monitoring their dialysis patients for injuries and side effects during dialysis treatment. The results they found in their research of the products NaturaLyte and GranuFlo were devastating.
If you or someone you know suffers from renal failure, kidney cancer, liver cancer or chronic kidney failure, dialysis is not an unknown topic to you. Dialysis machines act as artificial kidneys, cleansing the blood of toxins; removal of waste; salts and fluids. More than 400,000 Americans receive dialysis treatment every year.
How dialysis drugs like GranuFlo and NaturaLyte worked.
Fresenius Medical Care noticed an increased rate of dialysis injury in patients undergoing treatment wherein blood is pumped through a compartment of a dialyzer. The blood is exposed to a partially permeable membrane while a patient undergoes hemodialysis, dialysis solution is then used to remove waste and water from the body. Blood is then cleansed and then returned to the body.
GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are both acid concentrates used during the hemodialysis procedure. Both can be mixed with dialyzers and bicarbonates, the drugs speed the dialysis process and cleanse the blood efficiently. Dialyzers are used to clean the blood, acting as an artificial kidney designed to provide controllable transfer of solutes and water across a semi-permeable membrane. The acid concentrates and bicarbonates are meant to lower acidity in the blood.
Doctors were not aware that GranuFlo and NaturaLyte already contained higher than normal bicarbonate levels, leading to major medical repercussions would mix acid concentrates with dialyzers and other bicarbonates. The bicarbonate levels in patients’ blood spiked, causing the base level of the blood to become too high. Metabolic alkalosis, in turn, caused nausea; vomiting; disorientation; coma and heart attacks in hemodialysis patients who received treatment with either GranuFlo or NaturaLyte.
Dangerous symptoms from GranuFlo and NaturaLyte.
The most dangerous issue involved with both products is the fact that high bicarbonate levels in patients caused metabolic alkalosis, which itself caused a number of fatal complications.
Severe complications of metabolic alkalosis include:
- Stroke.
- Heart attack.
- Abnormal heart rate.
If you or someone you know has been injured while undergoing dialysis, we suggest that you contact the office of Frank Charles Miranda, P.A. to discuss your case.