The role of plasma volume and fluid overload in the tolerance to ultrafiltration and hypotension in hemodialysis patients.

Introduction: Ultrafiltration (UF) in hemodialysis (HD) patients is accompanied by irregular falls in plasma volume (PV) and blood pressure (BP).

Methods: We obtained in 321 patients (large cohort), body weight (BW), BP, samples of blood to determine hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht), Pre and Post HD. We estimated the % variation of the PV and its effect on the BP.