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Brad Racette, MD

Neurologist, Brad Racette, MD, believes the next important advance in the management of people with Parkinson’s disease will be medicines aimed at slowing its progression.

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Home Dialysis - Life Saving But Not Life Restricting

The doctor says you are a candidate for home dialysis and would like you to consider it. There are many advantages to home dialysis compared to treatment in an outpatient dialysis center.

Treatment options for patients with kidney disease have dramatically expanded and improved over the last decade.

Kidney transplantation remains the best choice for resumption of a normal lifestyle and its success rate has consistently improved with fewer complications. However, patients may face a three-to-five year waiting list.

Almost 60% of patients with kidney failure are not healthy enough to receive a kidney transplant, and would turn to kidney dialysis to treat their kidney disease.

Dialysis treatments remove the hundreds of toxins the kidneys would normally eliminate. Similar to kidney transplantation, choices and successes of dialysis have improved in recent years.

Brent Miller, MD, Washington University renal specialist, says “Two general types of home dialysis are available: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.

Hemodialysis purifies the blood directly. One or two needles are placed in a vein and a machine purifies the blood and then returns it to the patient.

Peritoneal dialysis utilizes the small capillaries in the lining of the abdomen to purify the blood. A catheter is inserted into the abdomen underneath the muscle and fat once and left in place. Dialysis fluid is then instilled into this catheter, generally at night, and then removed several hours later after toxins are allowed to diffuse into the fluid.”

The advantages of home dialysis are multiple:

• No need for travel to a dialysis center
• Flexible treatment schedules
• The ability to travel away from home easily
• More natural dialysis rather than only three times weekly
• Control of one’s healthcare

Other medical benefits may include better blood pressure control, more energy, better appetite, and less hospitalization. The training time for home hemodialysis is about three weeks and for peritoneal dialysis is about three half days.

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about home dialysis, please call the numbers indicated below to make an appointment with Dr. Miller.

Patients are seen at:

Center for Advanced Medicine
Medicine Multispecialty Center
4921 Parkview Place, 5th Floor, Suite C
St. Louis, MO 63110

Please call 314-362-7603 to make an appointment at the above location.

Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital
Medical Building Two
10 Barnes West Drive, Suite 200
Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Please call 314-362-7603 to make an appointment at the above location.

Davita St. Louis Dialysis
400 N. Lindbergh
St. Louis, Mo 63141
314-989-0886

Please call 314-989-0886 to make an appointment at the above location.

Davita St. Louis Dialysis
2610 Clark Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63103

Please call 314-534-0909 to make an appointment at the above location.

Davita St. Louis Dialysis
324 Debaliviere
St. Louis, MO 63112

Please call 314-367-9111 to make an appointment at the above location.

Brent Miller, MD

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Home Dialysis - Life Saving But Not Life Restricting

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