American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation
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Continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) has been used as an alternative to continuous arteriovenous hemofiltration (CAVH) and hemodiafiltration (CAVHD) in the management of critically ill patients with acute renal failure. This report describes our experience with the first 25 patients treated with CVVH at our institution. Vascular access was obtained through a single dual-lumen venous catheter. ⋯ No patient experienced a complication related to vascular access. Twelve of 111 total hemofilters were changed because of clot formation. CVVH was well tolerated by patients and managed efficiently by the ICU nursing staff.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Erythropoietin (Epo) is a glycoprotein hormone produced in the kidney that acts on erythroid progenitor cells in the bone marrow. A negative feedback system, in which tissue oxygenation controls Epo production and Epo controls red blood cell (RBC) production, provides homeostasis in oxygen delivery to body tissues. ⋯ No known second messenger system has been implicated in signal transduction from the Epo receptor. Although Epo may have some effect on mitosis in early erythroid progenitor cells, its control of RBC production appears to occur in later stages of erythroid cell development, where it prevents programmed cell death.