Assessment of pH and oxygen status during hemodialysis using the arterial blood line in patients with an arteriovenous fistula

Background: In patients with arteriovenous fistulas, assessment of pH and o xygen status during hemodialysis (HD) using the extracorporeal dialysis art erial blood line is widely used both in daily routine and in most studies i nvestigating hypoxia during HD. We designed this study to evaluate whether results of blood gas samples drawn from the extracorporeal arterial line we re clinically acceptable in assessing oxygen status. Methods: We compared s amples drawn from the extracorporeal arterial line with conventionally arte rial punctures during 18 routine HD sessions. The samples were drawn simult aneously and analyzed immediately for blood gases, pH and hemoximetry value s. Results: No significant difference was found between the values from the radial artery and the extracorporeal arterial blood line except for FMetHb . Conclusion: Thus, obtaining samples from the extracorporeal dialysis arte rial blood line to evaluate the parameters of the oxygen status (pH, pO(2), pCO(2), ctHb, SO2, FCOHb and ctO(2)) during routine HD is a clinically con venient and accurate sampling approach.