PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Palamidas, Anastasios
AU  - Gennimata, Sophia-Antiopi
AU  - Karakontaki, Fotini
AU  - Kaltsakas, Georgios
AU  - Koutsoukou, Antonia
AU  - Emili, Joseph Milic -
AU  - Alxanatis, Manos
AU  - Koulouris, Nikolaos
TI  - Impact of hemodialysis on dyspnoea in chronic renal failure patients
DP  - 2011 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - p2149
VI  - 38
IP  - Suppl 55
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2149.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2149.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2011 Sep 01; 38
AB  - Scarce reports exist on the symptom of dyspnoea in chronic renal failure patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of chronic dyspnoea in these patients and whether the severity of dyspnoea is different before and after hemodialysis. We recruited 25 patients with stage 5 (GFR<15ml/min) renal failure with (mean±SD) age = 52±11 years, hemodialysis duration = 5±4 years, urea = 141±26 mg/dl, creatinine = 10±2 mg/dl. None of the patients suffered from any concomitant pulmonary disease. We used the modified (m) MRC scale to assess chronic dyspnoea. Routine lung function tests in seated and supine positions position, closing volume (CV) with the single breath oxygen test, blood gases, Pimax, Pemax, P0.1, pattern of breathing were also measured. All of our patients (100%) complaint of some degree of dyspnoea before dialysis, which was significantly reduced after dialysis. The parameters that changed before and after dialysis were: Δ(m)MRC (-1±0.5, p<0.001), ΔWt% pred, (-3±1, p<0.001), ΔpH (0.1±0.05, p<0.001), ΔPimax%pred (33±8, p<0.001), ΔCC% predicted (-0.2±0.4, p= 0.032), and ΔP0.1 (-2±0.4, p<0.001) cm H2O. Backwards regression analysis showed that the only single factor changed significantly after dialysis and correlates with Δ(m)MRC is ΔP0.1 (r = 0.527, p=0.01). We conclude that hemodialysis improves dyspnoea by reducing central respiratory drive in patients with renal failure.