Human factors testing of the Quanta SC+ hemodialysis system: An innovative system for home and clinic use

Cost of the quanta SC+ hemodialysis system for self-care in the United Kingdom

Introduction

New personal hemodialysis systems, such as the quanta SC+, are being developed; these systems are smaller and simpler to use while providing the clearances of conventional systems. Increasing the uptake of lower‐intensity assistance and full self‐care dialysis may provide economic benefits to the public health payer. In the United Kingdom, most hemodialysis patients currently receive facility‐based dialysis costing more than £36,350 per year including patient transport. As such, we aimed to describe the annual costs of using the SC+ hemodialysis system in the United Kingdom for 3×‐weekly and 3.5×‐weekly dialysis regimens, for self‐care hemodialysis provided both in‐center and at home.

Methods

We applied a cost minimization approach. Costs for human resources, equipment, and consumables were sourced from the dialysis machine developer (Quanta Dialysis Technologies) based upon discussions with dialysis providers. Facility overhead expenses and transport costs were taken from a review of the literature.

Findings

Annual costs associated with the use of the SC+ hemodialysis system were estimated to be £26,642 for hemodialysis provided 3× weekly as home self‐care; £30,235 for hemodialysis provided 3× weekly as self‐care in‐center; £29,866 for hemodialysis provided 3.5× weekly as home self‐care; and £36,185 for hemodialysis provided 3.5× weekly as self‐care in‐center.

Discussion

We found that the SC+ hemodialysis system offers improved cost‐effectiveness for both 3×‐weekly and 3.5×‐weekly self‐care dialysis performed at home or as self‐care in‐center versus fully assisted dialysis provided 3× weekly with conventional machines in facilities.

Hemodialysis With the Quanta SC+: Efficacy and Safety of a Self-care Hemodialysis Machine

Rationale & Objective

Most patients with kidney failure receive hemodialysis 3 times per week in a facility. More frequent and longer duration dialysis prescriptions improve a number of key outcome measures. These prescriptions are best suited to self-care and home regimens. The Quanta SC+ hemodialysis system is a novel device with demonstrated ease of use for patients and health care practitioners through human factors testing. The primary objective of this study is to report the efficacy and safety of the SC+ system using conventional hemodialysis prescriptions.

Study Design

Nonrandomized observational study.

Setting & Participants

Prevalent hemodialysis patients in 4 sites in the United Kingdom were recruited to switch from their current device to the SC+ system with no other changes to their prescription.

Interventions

SC+ hemodialysis system.

Outcomes

Efficacy data were collected in terms of dialysis adequacy, urea reduction ratios, and net fluid removal accuracy.

Results

60 patients were enrolled in the study, resulting in 1,333 evaluable treatments. The threshold single-pool Kt/V of 1.2 was exceeded in 96.6% of treatments in patients receiving 3-times-weekly regimens, whereas the threshold standard Kt/V of 2.1 was exceeded in 94% of treatments and 97.6% of treatments in patients without significant residual kidney function. Ultrafiltration accuracy was determined by measuring net fluid removal and validated to be within acceptable limits. The adverse event profile during treatment was typical of hemodialysis. There were no serious adverse events.

Limitations

Few patients on high-frequency treatment regimens were enrolled.

Conclusions

The SC+ system delivers safe and effective hemodialysis across a range of patients and dialysis prescriptions. It is one of the smallest systems available and has validated usability for patients to perform self-care safely with minimal training. This device may encourage patients to feel empowered to take on home hemodialysis, unlocking beneficial clinical and patient-reported outcomes associated with these modalities.

Enhancement of solute clearance using pulsatile push-pull dialysate flow for the Quanta SC+: A novel clinic-to-home haemodialysis system

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The SC+ haemodialysis system developed by Quanta Dialysis Technologies is a small, easy-to-use dialysis system designed to improve patient access to self-care and home haemodialysis. A prototype variant of the standard SC+ device with a modified fluidic management system generating a pulsatile push-pull dialysate flow through the dialyser during use has been developed for evaluation. It was hypothesized that, as a consequence of the pulsatile push-pull flow through the dialyser, the boundary layers at the membrane surface would be disrupted, thereby enhancing solute transport across the membrane, modifying protein fouling and maintaining the surface area available for mass and fluid transport throughout the whole treatment, leading to solute transport (clearance) enhancement compared to normal haemodialysis (HD) operation.

METHODS

The pumping action of the SC+ system was modified by altering the sequence and timings of the valves and pumps associated with the flow balancing chambers that push and pull dialysis fluid to and from the dialyser. Using this unique prototype device, solute clearance performance was assessed across a range of molecular weights in two related series of laboratory bench studies. The first measured dialysis fluid moving across the dialyser membrane using ultrasonic flowmeters to establish the validity of the approach; solute clearance was subsequently measured using fluorescently tagged dextran molecules as surrogates for uraemic toxins. The second study used human blood doped with uraemic toxins collected from the spent dialysate of dialysis patients to quantify solute transport. In both, the performance of the SC+ prototype was assessed alongside reference devices operating in HD and pre-dilution haemodiafiltration (HDF) modes.

RESULTS

Initial testing with fluorescein-tagged dextran molecules (0.3 kDa, 4 kDa, 10 kDa and 20 kDa) established the validity of the experimental pulsatile push-pull operation in the SC+ system to enhance clearance and demonstrated a 10 to 15% improvement above the current HD mode used in clinic today. The magnitude of the observed enhancement compared favourably with that achieved using pre-dilution HDF with a substitution fluid flow rate of 60 mL/min (equivalent to a substitution volume of 14.4 L in a 4-hour session) with the same dialyser and marker molecules. Additional testing using human blood indicated a comparable performance to pre-dilution HDF; however, in contrast with HDF, which demonstrated a gradual decrease in solute removal, the clearance values using the pulsatile push-pull method on the SC+ system were maintained over the entire duration of treatment. Overall albumin losses were not different.

CONCLUSIONS

Results obtained using an experimental pulsatile push-pull dialysis flow configuration with an aqueous blood analogue and human blood ex vivo demonstrate an enhancement of solute transport across the dialyser membrane. The level of enhancement makes this approach comparable with that achieved using pre-dilution HDF with a substitution fluid flow rate of 60 mL/min (equivalent to a substitution volume of 14.4 L in a 4-hour session). The observed enhancement of solute transport is attributed to the disruption of the boundary layers at the fluid-membrane interface which, when used with blood, minimizes protein fouling and maintains the surface area.