Use of electron-beam sterilized hemodialysis membranes is not associated with significant and persistent thrombocytopenia.

Significant thrombocytopenia following hemodialysis with electron-beam (e-beam) sterilized membranes has been recently reported in a large-scale Canadian study. However, the underlying mechanism and the clinical significance of this finding remain undetermined as yet. We prospectively evaluated for a 4-month period the thrombocytopenic effect of the e-beam sterilized dialyzers as compared to the steam sterilized ones in two groups of well-controlled hemodialysis patients.