DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY OF THE FEMORAL VEIN - A NEW TOOL TO DRY-WEIGHT DETERMINATION IN HEMODIALYSIS

In hemodialysis, determination of the optimum dry weight is essential. Clinical assessment of the hydration state is often not accurate enou gh. It is known that venous pulsatility increases with rising central venous pressure. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether hydr ation state of the hemodialysis patient correlates with typical Dopple r wave forms derived from the common femoral vein. Doppler sonography of the common femoral vein was performed in 60 hemodialysis patients a nd a control group. In 10 patients central venous pressure was measure d concomitantly. The results confirm a correlation between excessive h ydration and appearance of venous pulsations. This can be used for ass essing the hydration state of hemodialysis patients. Nevertheless, ven ous pulsations could also be detected in some of the control individua ls without any renal or cardiac disease or fluid overload. These false positive cases warrant further consideration and discussion.