Abstract
Endotoxin (ET) contaminating dialysate is an unsettled and important matter in using high performance membranes. To resolve the problem of ET, ultraviolet light (UV) was used to irradiate the dialysate close to where it runs into the dialyser. Five bedside consoles alternately equipped with UV and another 5 without UV from one central bath were used. UV irradiation of the dialysate for 3 hours of the first day did not significantly decrease the ET concentration (33.7±3.1pg/ml) in the dialysate in comparison with the controls (36.4±11.6pg/ml) which were not irradiated with UV. But a month after continuous UV irradiation of the dialysate, the ET level (8.9±3.2pg/ml) was significantly lower than that of the cotrols (18.9±6.4pg/ml) (p<0.05).
The results show that UV irradiation partially prevents ET from entering the dialysate. In addition an ET filter is needed to make the dialysate ET free.
