possible cause for anemia in chronic uremic patients on hemodialysis

ABSTRACT

Eight dialysing solutions with varying ionic and glucose concentrations were tested in vitro for their effect on the integrity of normal red blood corpuscles [RBCs] membrane. All solutions were found to have a haemolytic action ranging from 1.03-4.5% after 6 hours of incubation which makes a calculated hidden loss of 50-225 ml of RBC's per dialysis. The molal concentrations of Na[+], K[+], Ca[2+] and Mg[2++] and glucose are important determining factors. The mechanism of haemolysis was suggested to be through Na[+], K[+] adenosine triphosphatase [Na+ pump] of the cells. The construction of an ideal solution to minimize this route of blood loss is under investigation