Abstract
Extravascular lung water (EVLW) during maintenance hemodialysis was assessed in chronic renal failure patients. EVLW was determined as an extravascular thermal volume index (ETVI) using the heat-sodium double indicator dilution method.
Before hemodialysis, the ETVI of 14 patients with no cardiac or pulmonary complications was 9.21±2.74ml/kg (mean±SD). There were good correlations between ETVI and the cardio-thoracic ratio on chest X-rays, left atrial diameter on echocardiograms and A-aDO2. During hemodialysis, ETVI decreased significantly in the first hour. There were good correlations between changes in ETVI and changes in body weight and ultrafiltration volume per unit body weight. The patients were divided into two groups according to their serum protein levels, and the decrease in ETVI in the low serum protein group was found to be slower than in the normal serum protein group.
These findings suggest that ETVI may be useful for estimating and monitoring hemodynamic changes during hemodialysis.
