Temperature and thermal balance in hemodialysis

The analysis of thermal balance and temperature in hemodialysis patients reveals both striking similarities and important differences to urea kinetics. Both urea and thermal energy need to be removed during hemodialysis, however, for different reasons. Urea accumulates between hemodialysis treatments, whereas thermal energy accumulates within hemodialysis treatments. Urea concentration is ideally reduced by approximately 70% during a treatment, whereas temperature is ideally kept constant by removing up to 50% of resting energy expenditure because heat dissipation from the body surface is obstructed as a result of ultrafiltration-induced hypovolemia. Extracorporeal heat removal is controlled by several factors. Dialysate and patient temperatures play the main role. Low body temperatures are not uncommon with hemodialysis patients, so that dialysate temperatures less than 36 degrees C are often required to maintain reasonable temperature gradients. Another important role is played by extracorporeal blood flow. At the same temperature gradient, heat transfer by extracorporeal blood flow used with high-efficiency dialysis is approximately six times more efficient than the dissipation of heat across the body surface. And, last but not least, the venous section of the extracorporeal circulation provides constant cooling of approximately 10 W. Almost all dialysis treatments provide extracorporeal cooling, even those using dialysate at 37 degrees C. Therefore it is probably better to define the thermal aspects of hemodialysis with regard to the physiologic effects on the patient. Since thermoregulation responds to changes in body temperature, treatments should be characterized as isothermic, hypothermic, and hyperthermic.