Central Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Pressures during Hemodialysis.

Maintaining fixed dry weight and controlling cardiovascular risk factors during hemodialysis (HD) requires well-controlled blood pressure (BP) with regular measurements. Keeping the BP stable during HD is challenging in some patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Accurate measurement of BP is the key, as it helps prevent intradialytic hypotension. It is still unclear if there is a difference between using the central or peripheral BP measurements in ESRD. To study if there is a significant difference between the central and peripheral BP, we tested the central and peripheral BP in 14 ESRD patients during their HD session. We compared 326 peripheral BP readings with 326 central BP measurements. There was a significant difference noticed with a lower central systolic and pulse pressure and a higher central diastolic and mean arterial pressure as compared with the peripheral pressure readings. Since BP measurement is the major factor to determine target organ hypoperfusion during HD, measuring the central pressure measurements during HD could help mitigating the risk of inducing unnoticed target organ hypoperfusion during HD.