Hemodialysis (HD) Dialysate Potassium

Extremes of serum potassium levels in the general population, cardiac patients and hemodialysis (HD) patients may be critical. Thus, dialysate potassium concentration needs to be individualized to the patients by a standardized approach of the nephrologists. Our goals are to avoid or minimize pre-HD hyperkalemia, post-HD hypokalemia and high intradialytic dialysate-plasma K gradient, in order to moderate the high mortality and morbidity in HD patients and improve their compromised quality of life (QOL). However, dialysate K is frequently not individualized.