Randomized trial of bioelectrical impedance analysis versus clinical criteria for guiding ultrafiltration in hemodialysis patients: effects on blood pressure, hydration status, and arterial stiffness.

Background: Chronic fluid overload is common in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients and is associated with severe cardiovascular complications, such as arterial hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, congestive heart failure, and arrhythmia. Therefore, a crucial target of HD is to achieve the so-called dry weight; however, the best way to assess fluid status and dry weight is still unclear. Dry weight is currently determined in most dialysis units on a clinical basis, and it is commonly defined as the lowest body weight a patient can tolerate without developing intra-dialytic or inter-dialytic hypotension or other symptoms of dehydration.

Nutritional status evaluation and survival in haemodialysis patients in one centre from Romania.

Background: Protein-energy wasting is a common complication and an important predictive factor for mortality in chronic dialysis patients. Therefore, nutritional status needs to be regularly assessed in these patients, by using several methods, and, if malnutrition is present, its possible causes should be thoroughly searched for and properly treated.

Material And Methods: In 149 prevalent haemodialysis patients (82 men, mean age 53.

The impact of acute kidney injury on short-term survival in an Eastern European population with stroke.

Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and of serious disability with significant impact on patients' long-term survival. The short-term evolution following stroke can associate acute kidney injury (AKI) as a possible complication, frequently overlooked and underestimated in clinical trials. We aimed to describe in an East European cohort (i) the incidence of AKI and its risk factors; (ii) the 30-day mortality and its risk factors and (iii) the relationship between mortality, pre-existent renal function and subsequent AKI.

Intradialytic changes in reflective properties of the arterial system during a single hemodialysis session.

Increased aortic stiffness-measured as aortic augmentation index (AIx), a global stiffness marker-has emerged as a powerful predictor of survival in hemodialysis (HD). A single HD session is known to produce considerable improvement in aortic stiffness. We set out, for the first time, to examine the relative contributions to the post-HD drastic improvement in aortic stiffness of ultrafiltration rate and volume, or blood pressure (BP) changes.