RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SYMPATHETIC DYSFUNCTION AND HEMODIALYSIS INSTABILITY.

The inability to compensate for reductions in plasma volume frequently causes hypotension in dialysis patients, resulting in discomfort and potential morbidity from ischemia and/or inadequate dialysis therapy. The incidence of hypotension during hemodialysis has been lessened by lowering the dialysate temperature to less than 35. 5 degree C, and improvements in hemodynamic stability seen during hemofiltration**3**0 or isolated ultrafiltration, compared with hemodialysis, are dependent on the lowered temperature of the returning blood characteristic of these modes. The authors evaluated some aspects of the sympathetic nervous system in hemodialysis-associated hypotension and the effects of cooled dialysate in a group of hemodialysis patients classified as stable or unstable.