A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found patients who choose nocturnal home hemodialysis as a treatment option may improve their quality of life, blood pressure and heart health. The advantage to this type of treatment is that it allows for many more hours of blood-cleansing therapy than a patient would receive in conventional, three times per week in-center dialysis therapy.

Nocturnal home hemodialysis occurs over night, while the patient sleeps. It usually takes place six days a week or every other night, over a six to eight hour time period. During the study, patients who received nocturnal home hemodialysis enjoyed a better quality of life and health than those on convention in-center hemodialysis. Home hemodialysis patients also cut their risk of death by almost 80 percent.
 
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This article originally appeared in the August 2009 issue of Renal Flash.