Temperature and vascular stability in hemodialysis.
The temperature of the blood returning from an extracorporeal circuit may influence the vascular stability. Mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate and the temperature in the in-and outlet lines for blood and dialysis fluid of the dialyzer (TBa, TBv, TDi and TDo) were continuously measured in 8 patients suffering from vascular instability during standard dialysis. The TBv was adjusted to 37, 36 and 35 degrees C at the start of dialysis by manipulating TDi. The patients were studied two times at each temperature level during a 4-hour dialysis. At the start of dialysis TBa was 35.7 +/- 0.3 degrees C. The patient's mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate decreased and increased, respectively, continuously during TBv 37 and 36 degrees C experiments, but were fairly stable at an TBv of 35 degrees C. The standard TDi of 37 degrees C should be abandoned for a temperature which is similar to TBa (35.7 degrees C) to avoid the vascular effects of heating or cooling the blood in the extracorporeal system.