title: Assessment of dialysis adequacy using the dialysate urea monitor: preliminary experience of the dialysate urea monitor.
abstract: Numerous studies have identified a strong linkage between the delivered dialysis dose (Kt/V) and the survival of hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, the current method used to calculate Kt/V requires multiple blood samples and the process is complex and time consuming. We evaluate the performance of a recently developed on-line monitor (Biostat 1000 dialysate urea monitor, Baxter) that measures the urea concentration in the effluent dialysate and displays Kt/V and nPCR immediately after hemodialysis. To verify the performance of the urea monitor, we selected 21 hemodialysis patients, calculated their Kt/V and nPCR values from blood samples obtained during each hemodialysis, and compared the results with data obtained using the urea monitor. The Kt/V and nPCR values calculated by the urea monitor were both significantly correlated with those obtained using blood samples (R = 0.804, p < 0.001 in Kt/V and R = 0.749, p < 0.001 in nPCR). Our results suggest that the urea monitor may be used for on-line assessment of dialysis adequacy and obviates the need for blood sampling.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Chang Gung Medical College, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000592:standards*; D014508:Urea / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014508:Urea