Cooled Dialysate May Protect Patients from Brain Damage

Hemodialysis drives progressive white matter brain injury due to blood pressure instability; however, patients in a recent study who dialyzed at 0.5°C below body temperature were completely protected against such white matter changes. Investigators randomized 73 new dialysis patients to dialyze with body temperature dialysate or dialysate cooled to 0.5°C below body temperature for 1 year. The findings are published in JASN. Previous research has shown that conventional dialysis can cause significant circulatory stress that damages multiple organs.