The bleeding risk in chronic haemodialysis: preventive strategies in high-risk patients

Haemodialysis (HD) patients are at an increased risk of bleeding because of uraemic bleeding tendency and systemic anticoagulation caused by intermittent heparinization. Additional risk factors may be aspirin or coumarin use for the prevention of fistula thrombosis, diffuse intravascular coagulation, recent trauma, postsurgical state, inadequate control of hypertension, gastrointestinal lesions, diabetic retinopathy, renal cystic disease, and uraemic pericarditis. In HD patients with an active bleeding focus blood transfusion, desmopressin acetate (DDAVP), conjugated oestrogens, and dialysis treatment can limit the bleeding risk. Strategies to reduce the bleeding risk conveyed by systemic anticoagulation during HD are regional heparin anticoagulation and minimal heparinization. In our opinion, dialytic modalities that completely preclude systemic anticoagulation, i.e. peritoneal dialysis (PD), heparin-free HD, and HD with regional anticoagulation with prostacyclin, mesilates, or citrate, are indicated for patients who are actively bleeding, or who are within 3 days from a bleeding episode, or a surgical or accidental wound, or who are less than 2 weeks from cerebral or retinal haemorrhage, and for patients with incompletely treated proliferative diabetic retinopathy or uraemic pericarditis.