Acute hemodialysis effects on doppler echocardiographic indices

Conventional echocardiographic (ECHO) parameters of systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricular (LV) have been shown to be load dependent. However, the impact of pre-load reduction on tissue Doppler (TD) parameters of LV function is incompletely understood. To evaluate the effect of a single hemodialysis (HD) session on LV systolic and diastolic function using pulsed Doppler echocardiography and pulsed tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), we studied 81 chronic HD patients (40 males; mean age 52.4 ± 16.4 years) with these tools. ECHO parameters were obtained 30 min before and 30 min after HD. Fluid volume removed by HD was 1640 ± 730 cm³. HD led to reduction in LV end-diastolic volume (P <0.001), end-systolic volume (P <0.001), left atrium area (P <0.001), peak early (E-wave) trans-mitral flow velocity (P <0.001), the ratio of early to late Doppler velocities of diastolic mitral inflow (P <0.001) and aortic time velocity integral (P <0.001). No significant change in peak S velocity of pulmonary vein flow after HD was noted. Early and late diastolic (E') TDI velocities and the ratio of early to late TDI diastolic velocities (E'/A') on the lateral side of the mitral annulus decreased significantly after HD (P = 0.013; P = 0.007 and P = 0.008, respectively). Velocity of flow progression (Vp) during diastole was not affected by pre-load reduction. Pulmonary artery systolic pressure and the diameter of the inferior vena cava decreased significantly (P <0.001 and P <0.001, respectively) after HD. We conclude that most of the Doppler-derived indices of diastolic function are pre-load-dependent and velocity of flow progression was minimally affected by pre-load reduction in HD patients.