ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to compare the effects of conventional thrice weekly dialysis versus daily hemodialysis on pulmonary function tests [PFTs]. Sixty subjects were included in this study: The first group included 20 healthy volunteers as controls, the second group included 20 patients maintained on thrice weekly hemodialysis [HD] and the third group included 20 patients maintained on daily HD [six days/week]. All studied personnel were subjected to perform PFTs [forced vital capacity [FVC], volume of air expired in the first second [FEV1], forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity [FEV1/FVC], forced expiratory flow rates in the 25-27% range [FVF 25-75%], forced expiratory flow rates in the 50% range [FEV 50%], peak expiratory flow rate [PEFR] and diffusion capacity by measuring transfer factor [DLCO]]. The study concluded that although there was a deterioration in PFTs in both regimens of HD, these changes were much less in daily HD than thrice weekly HD, which indicates that daily HD is the method of choice in treating uremic patients, specifically in some patients who have underlying chest disease