Dialysate calcium profiling during hemodialysis: use and clinical implications.

Background: Low dialysate calcium (LdCa) concentration is used to prevent or treat hemodialysis (HD)-induced hypercalcemia, but its use has been complicated by intradialytic hypotension in some patients. Our goal was to explore the possibility that dialysis calcium profiling (dCaP) can ameliorate intradialytic hypotension in HD patients who need to have dialysis performed with LdCa.

Methods: In a randomized crossover design, eighteen HD patients underwent one four-hour HD session with LdCa of 1.