[Clinical and analytical changes in hemodialysis without acetate]

the purpose of this study was to evaluate blood acetate levels and its correlation with clinical and analytical changes in hemodialysis patients treated with standard bicarbonate dialysate compared to treatment with acetate-free bicarbonate dialysate.

fourteen patients on hemodialysis (11 male) with mean age of 61 15 years, were treated with conventional bicarbonate dialysate for 1 month and then switched to acetate-free bicarbonate dialysate for another month. Blood samples were drawn at the third session of first and fourth week of each type of dialysis.

Pre-dialysis blood acetate levels were similar in both groups, whereas post-dialysis blood acetate levels were higher in patients treated with conventional bicarbonate dialysate (0.48+/- 0.64 vs. 0.18+/-0.23 mmol/L, p=0.024). Moreover, both periods had similar percentage of patients with pre-dialysis blood acetate levels in the pathologic range, whereas this percentage was higher in post-dialysis samples from patients treated with conventional bicarbonate dialysate respect to acetate-free dialysate (67% vs. 21%, p=0.001). Serum levels of interleukin-6 were statistically higher in the period with conventional bicarbonate dialysate (31.7+/- 24.7 vs. 18.7+/- 10.3 pg/ml, p=0.014), even though other inflammatory markers such as LBP, TNF- and CRP failed to increase in the same period. We didn't found significant differences in the other parameters studied except for the changes in serum concentrations of sodium, chloride and bicarbonate.

Acetate-free bicarbonate dialysate does not expose patients to a big amount of acetate and allows that the majority of patients finished hemodialysis with blood acetate levels in the physiologic ranges. Acetate-free dialysate was safe and well tolerated by our hemodialysis patients, although clinical advantages derived from its use should be evaluated in long-term prospective studies.