System Partnership Advances Research, Bolsters Patient Care Options for Kidney Patients
A research collaboration between Saratoga Hospital’s Nephrology Division and Albany Medical College is advancing home hemodialysis therapy for patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) or renal failure.
“When patients are proactive in their treatment, they do better and feel better,” said Rachid Daoui, MD, nephrologist. He has a strong interest in home hemodialysis—a process where an artificial kidney cleans blood of waste produces and excess fluid before returning it to the body. Patients able to complete this process at home have a lower mortality rate, lower incidence of depression, and better outcomes than those with traditional outpatient dialysis.
Home hemodialysis became an option in the Saratoga area in 1998, and by 2012 nearly 40 percent of dialysis patients in the Capital Region were participating in home hemodialysis, compared to only two percent nationally.
“You have a sense of ownership, where you are in control of your own environment, in your own home, doing your own care.”
Dr. Daoui, Chief of Nephrology, Saratoga Hospital, partnered with Loay Salman, MD, the Thomas Ordway, MD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Albany Medical College, to compare patient outcomes when using the B. Braun machine–-used routinely for incenter dialysis—for home hemodialysis. They reviewed data of 27 patients using the B. Braun machine versus 36 using Nx Stage, routinely used for home dialysis machine, and found that the B. Braun machine provided higher clearance. Their article can be found in the Hemodialysis International Journal, 2025.
Overall patients eligible for home hemodialysis have more flexibility, with treatments able to be done at any time, even while sleeping.
“Further validating the effectiveness and success of these devices give our patients another option for home treatment,” said Dr. Daoui. “It’s important to point out, the diagnosis of end stage renal disease is not a death sentence, it is a condition you live with. Patients that are proactive, and adaptive, can do well.”
Dr. Daoui and Dr. Salman have collaborated for more than a decade, including on a study on new therapy option for ESKD patients with calciphylaxis, a condition where calcification occurs in the small blood vessels of the skin.
“Our patients benefit from the results of these studies conducted in collaboration with our colleagues across the Albany Med Health System,” said Dr. Salman. He expects research to increase as the System becomes more integrated and lead to further publications. “This partnership will continue to advance our knowledge, understanding, and approach to management of certain nephrology conditions.”