Neu-Isenburg/Cologne – If the kidneys fail and dialysis treatment becomes vital, patients usually go to an outpatient dialysis facility for treatment three times a week for several hours. But there is another way: KfH patient Jörg Rockenbach has been carrying out dialysis treatment independently at home for 20 years. But it is also a fact that home dialysis is still not used much in Germany, although it often means a better quality of life for those affected.
At the age of 16, Jörg Rockenbach was diagnosed with chronic inflammation of the kidney corpuscles. In 2003, as the disease progressed, his kidneys failed and he regularly went to the KfH Kidney Center in Cologne-Merheim for several hours for dialysis treatment. He quickly decided to carry out the treatment independently at home and had the KfH team train him for this. The now 53-year-old has been carrying out dialysis treatment in his own four walls for 20 years now: “Self-determined dialysis at home is the ultimate for me,” emphasizes Jörg Rockenbach. His conviction is also reflected in his commitment to the association “Heim Dialyse Patients eV (HDP)” (www.hdpev.de), which he chaired in 2016.
“Dialysis time is lifetime”
Since then, Rockenbach has carried out the treatment six days a week instead of three times a week (as is usual with treatment in a dialysis center). This achieves a more continuous and gentle detoxification of the body. “Dialysis time is lifetime for me: I don’t feel ill, but I have limited time because I have to spend four and a half hours every day on ‘body care’ from the first to the last move,” he says. His physical fitness proves him right. After 20 years of home dialysis, he cycles up to 4,000 kilometers a year without electrical support. His passion for cycling is also known at the KfH kidney center in Cologne-Merheim. For his “dialysis anniversary”, his attending physician, Dr. medical Frank Merkel a cycling jersey with a self-designed motif. This represents the two elements that are of great importance to the patient: the bicycle and the dialysis. “Jörg Rockenbach is a good example of home dialysis procedures making life easier with chronic kidney disease. As a rule, you are more flexible in terms of time, you can better integrate the treatment into everyday life and you do not have to observe strict dietary regulations. This increases the quality of life,” summarizes Dr. medical Frank Merkel sums up the advantages of home dialysis.
home dialysis
Around 95,000 people in Germany are dependent on renal replacement therapy because of chronic kidney failure. Most of them go to an outpatient dialysis facility. “Only just under seven percent of those affected are currently being treated with home dialysis procedures. In an international comparison, home dialysis is underrepresented in Germany,” reports Dr. medical Benno Kitsche, managing director for the further development and promotion of home dialysis at the KfH and also senior physician at the KfH kidney center in Cologne-Merheim. After all, according to Kitsche, the proportion in the KfH is currently ten percent, i.e. above the national average. However, Kitsche assumes that there will be significant increases in the future. In addition to the advantages for patients, the shortage of skilled workers and the reduction in CO2 emissions, e.g. For example, there are arguments in favor of treatment at home due to the elimination of transport routes to dialysis treatment: “Home dialysis will become more important. It is the method of the future.” The development of smaller, mobile dialysis machines that save water and energy will lead in particular to an increase in home hemodialysis, which is currently still well behind peritoneal dialysis.
Fotolink: 20 years living on home hemodialysis
Caption: KfH nephrologist Dr. med Frank Merkel (left) hands over a cycling jersey to his long-term home dialysis patient Jörg Rockenbach (right). The self-designed motif “Cycle of life” represents the two elements that are of great importance for the patient: the bicycle and dialysis. Photo: KfH.
Patients with kidney disease are treated with dialysis at the KfH Kidney Center in Cologne-Merheim. One focus is on home dialysis. In addition, during the nephrological consultation hours – in close cooperation with the cooperating specialist practice of Dr. medical Frank Merkel – the diagnosis and therapy of chronic kidney diseases, the early detection of risk factors and the care of patients before and after a kidney transplant (www.kfh.de/koeln/ostmerheimerstrasse).
The non-profit KfH Board of Trustees for Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation eV – sponsor of the KfH Kidney Center – was founded in 1969 as the “Board of Trustees for Home Dialysis” and at that time created the necessary prerequisites for gradually establishing nationwide dialysis treatment in Germany. Today, the KfH stands for comprehensive and high-quality care for patients with kidney disease. More than 18,000 dialysis patients and currently around 74,000 outpatients receive comprehensive treatment in more than 200 KfH centres.