Potassium balance and acid-base changes in patients undergoing regular haemodialysis therapy.
Serial measurements of total body potassium in 21 patients with chronic renal failure being treated with three 10-hour periods of dialysis per week, against a dialysate fluid containing 1.5 mEq of potassium per litre, showed no evidence of potassium depletion. Mild hyperkalaemia was found in some patients before dialysis, correlated with the pre-dialysis hydrogen ion concentration. Hypokalaemia occurred during dialysis in almost half of the studies made; the plasma potassium concentration, however, rose to normal levels within two to four hours of stopping dialysis. A delay in the movement of potassium from the cells into the extracellular fluid is suggested as a cause for the observed hypokalaemia.In all but one patient the pre-dialysis blood pH was normal, but rose to alkalaemic levels during dialysis. A pronounced degree of hypocapnia was noted before dialysis, and this was not altered by a rising blood pH during dialysis. It is suggested that a stimulus to respiration other than the hydrogen ion gradient between the brain cells and cerebral spinal fluid may produce the observed hypocapnia.
D000136:Acid-Base Equilibrium; D000328:Adult; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000097:blood; D001769:Blood; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011188:Potassium / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012119:Respiration
D001639:Bicarbonates; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D011188:Potassium