[Prescribing the dose of dialysis].

The concept of dose of dialysis is relatively recent. It evaluates the adequacy of extrarenal clearance, in order to provide the best chances of survival to chronic dialysis patients. Although it presents drawbacks, urea Kt/V is recognized as the most clinically relevant indicator. It can be easily calculated online thanks to the equipment of the dialysis monitors with ionic dialysance. The target of balanced Kt/V is greater than 1.2, provided the minimal Kt dialysis dose is received. To reach these targets, it is necessary to use dialysers of large surface, with high urea mass transfer coefficient. The blood pump flow must be high and dialysate flow rate sufficient. With the advent of online hemodiafiltration, a dose of convective dialysis was imposed. To achieve these convective targets, large surface dialysers with high hydraulic permeability must be used, with a high beta 2 microglobulin screening coefficient and low albumin loss. Prescribing the dose of dialysis is essential in an optimal quality-of-care based approach.