Reducing the hemorrhagic complications of hemodialysis: a controlled comparison of low-dose heparin and citrate anticoagulation.

We report a randomized prospective study comparing the results of anticoagulation using hypertonic trisodium citrate and low-dose controlled heparin during 45 hemodialysis treatments performed on patients determined to be at high or very high risk for bleeding. Dialysis-associated bleeding was more frequent following low-dose controlled heparin anticoagulation than during hypertonic citrate therapy (P less than .05). Dialysis effectiveness measured by postdialysis chemistries and weight loss was equivalent in the two groups.