Renal replacement treatment initiation with twice-weekly versus thrice-weekly haemodialysis in patients with incident dialysis-dependent kidney disease: rationale and design of the TWOPLUS pilot clinical trial.

The optimal haemodialysis (HD) prescription-frequency and dose-for patients with incident dialysis-dependent kidney disease (DDKD) and substantial residual kidney function (RKF)-that is, renal urea clearance ≥2 mL/min/1.73 m This parallel-group, open-label randomised pilot trial will enrol 50 patients from 14 outpatient dialysis units. Participants will be randomised (1:1) to receive twice-weekly HD with adjuvant pharmacological therapy for 6 weeks followed by thrice-weekly HD (incremental HD group) or outright thrice-weekly HD (standard HD group). Age ≥18 years, chronic kidney disease progressing to DDKD and urine output ≥500 mL/day are key inclusion criteria; patients with left ventricular ejection fraction <30% and acute kidney injury requiring dialysis will be excluded. Adjuvant pharmacological therapy (ie, effective diuretic regimen, patiromer and sodium bicarbonate) will complement twice-weekly HD. The primary feasibility end points are recruitment rate, adherence to the assigned HD regimen, adherence to serial timed urine collections and treatment contamination. Incidence rate of clinically significant volume overload and metabolic imbalances in the first 3 months after randomisation will be used to assess intervention safety. The study has been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, USA. Patient recruitment began on 14 June 2019, was paused between 13 March 2020 and 31 May 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, resumed on 01 June 2020 and will last until the required sample size has been attained. Participants will be followed in usual care fashion for a minimum of 6 months from last individual enrolled. All regulations and measures of ethics and confidentiality are handled in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. NCT03740048; Pre-results.

Informations de copyright

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: The principal investigator (MM) received funding for this trial from Relypsa, Vifor Pharma. KK-Z has received commercial honoraria and/or support from Abbott, AbbVie, Alexion, AMAG Pharma, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Aveo, Baxter, Chugai, DaVita, Dr Schaer, Fresenius, Genentech, Haymarket Media, Hospira, Kabi, Keryx, National Institutes of Health, Novartis, PCORI, Pfizer, Relypsa, Resverlogix, Sandoz, Sanofi, Shire, UpToDate, Vifor and ZS Pharma.