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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Measurement of Tissue Oxygenation Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis
Published on: October 2, 2020
Shortness of breath during dialysis--a role of bicarbonate in dialysis fluid?
Karen Latchford1, Jan Cowperthwaite
1BKPA Jubilee Dialysis Centre, Crawley Hospital, Crawley, UK.
Abstract:
Occasionally dialysis patients show symptoms that indicate intolerance in the way dialysis is delivered. This paper describes two cases of transient shortness of breath during the initial treatments after starting online haemodiafiltration (HDF). Our actions to deal with these symptoms focused on reducing the bicarbonate gain during the first phase of the dialysis treatment. As the symptoms gradually disappeared we hypothesise that the bicarbonate concentration in the dialysis fluid may play an important role for the development of shortness of breath and hypoxemia during HDF treatments.
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