A newly developed on-line monitoring system for the determination of serum electrolytes and urea during hemodialysis.

Continuous monitoring of serum solute concentrations throughout a dialysis session could be beneficial for the prevention of intradialytic morbidity such as hypotension and for the confirmation of dialysis adequacy. In this paper, we introduce a new on-line monitoring system for use during hemodialysis sessions, a system developed for the continuous observation of serum biochemical data. Using this system, we also show the possibility of clinical applications. Intradialytic hypotension could be prevented by the observation of filtrate sodium concentration and the control of dialysate sodium concentration. The termination of a dialysis session could be decided by the observation of the filtrate urea nitrogen, on the basis of the Kt/V urea ratio. Because monitoring for other solutes such as calcium and creatinine is theoretically available, clinical applications will continue to increase in the future.