Hemodialysis prescription: Dose adequacy by continuous monitoring of fresh and spent dialysate conductivity

Measurement of hemodialysis treatment adequacy is essential to monitor quality assurance for today's growing dialysis population. The subject of this thesis is the kinetic modelling of spent dialysate conductivity.; The following single pool equation was developed to describe the kinetics of the spent dialysate conductivity during periods of constant inlet dialysate conductivity: lnCdi-Cdo =lnC^odi-C^o do-DVt This equation suggests a linear relationship between ln |C_di − C_do| and dialysis time with slope equal to −D/V. Evaluation of this slope permits direct calculation of Dt/V, an equivalent of urea Kt/V.; It was concluded that the currently proposed model was an oversimplification of intradialytic ionic mass transfer kinetics but that further studies with more sophisticated models, better accounting for the important role of convective mass transfer, were warranted. In this regard, a series of in vitro and in vivo studies have been suggested. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...