Use of Ultrapure Dialysate in Reduction of Chronic Inflammation during Hemodialysis

Abstract

Chronic inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of several complications of hemodialysis therapy. It is thought that backfiltration of bacteria-derived contaminations during dialysis may induce a chronic inflammatory state. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is one of the tools which can take a hold on such a chronic inflammatory condition. We examined the effect of ultrapure dialysate which contributes to chronic inflammation with hs-CRP and tried to reduce endotoxin (ET) levels at the end of the dialysate from 70 EU/l to <1.0 EU/l (ultrapure dialysate). Other dialysis conditions, except ET level, were fixed. We investigated the hs-CRP of 23 patients receiving regular dialysis before the use of ultrapure dialysate and 1 year after use of it prospectively. The data showed a significant decrease in the median value of the hs-CRP from 0.16 to 0.07 mg/dl (p < 0.05). The value of serum β₂-microglobulin decreased from 33.2 to 28.4 mg/dl (p < 0.01) and the hemoglobin level increased from 10.0 to 11.0 g/dl (p < 0.05). These results indicate that even a dialysate containing 70 EU/l of ET level may induce a chronic inflammatory state. hs-CRP is a very useful marker of chronic inflammation and the use of ultrapure dialysate is necessary to improve a chronic inflammatory state. The targeted ET level at the end of the dialysate should be set at ≤1.0 EU/l.