A newly developed on-line monitoring system for the determination of serumelectrolytes and urea during hemodialysis

Continuous monitoring of serum solute concentrations throughout a dialysis session could be beneficial for the prevention of intradialytic morbidity s uch as hypotension and for the confirmation of dialysis adequacy. In this p aper, we introduce a new on-line monitoring system for use during hemodialy sis sessions, a system developed for the continuous observation of serum bi ochemical data. Using this system, we also show the possibility of clinical applications. Intradialytic hypotension could be prevented by the observat ion of filtrate sodium concentration and the control of dialysate sodium co ncentration. The termination of a dialysis session could be decided by the observation of the filtrate urea nitrogen, on the basis of the Kt/V urea ra tio. Because monitoring for other solutes such as calcium and creatinine is theoretically available, clinical applications will continue to increase i n the future.