Objective To evaluate the influence of blood flow on hemodialysis adequacy in patients with cuffed central venous catheters. Methods Fifteen stable patients on thrice-weekly maintenance hemodialysis and with cuffed central venous catheters were enrolled in this study. Their blood flow in hemodialysis was first held constant at 200ml/min for 4 hours in each hemodialysis session for 12 dialysis sessions, and was then changed to 250ml/min for another 12 dialysis sessions. After that, the blood flow was changed back to 200ml/min for 24 dialysis sessions, and then increased to 300ml/min for another 12 sessions. The objectives of this study were to observe the dialysis adequacy based on the parameters of single pool urea kinetics (spKt/V) and urea reduction ratio (URR), and to observe the alterations of hemoglobin, hematocrit and heart function under different blood flow protocols. Results spKt/V and URR became higher when blood flow increased. When the blood flow was set at 200ml/min, 250ml/min and 300ml/min, spKt/V was 1.44±0.04, 1.58±0.05 and 1.85±0.20, respectively (1.44 vs. 1.58, and 1.44 vs. 1.85, P＜0.05), and URR was 69.01±3.88%, 72.23±4.26% and 76.06±4.82%, respectively (69.01% vs. 72.23%, and 69.01% vs. 76.06%, P＜0.05). Hemoglobin and hematocrit increased after the study (92.20g/L vs.107.60g/L, and 28.53fl vs. 31.65fl; P＜0.05). Ejection fraction, stroke volume, end diastolic volume and end systolic volume were statistically indifferent before and after the study (P>0.05). Conclusions Increase of blood flow for hemodialysis may result in the increase of dialysis efficiency with stable heart function and improvement of anemia in patients with cuffed central venous catheters.
