The first long-term study of its kind found nocturnal home hemodialysis patients live just as long as those who receive kidney transplants from deceased donors.  The study appears in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. 
 
The survival rate of nocturnal home dialysis patients and those who received a kidney from a deceased donor was comparable.  The survival of patients who received a transplant from a living donor was the best of the three.  Nightly home hemodialysis consists of six to eight hours sessions up to seven times per week and is a good alternative to transplant for high risk patients and to long waiting periods on transplant lists.

This article originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of Renal Flash.