Cardiac arrhythmias in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.

17 patients on maintenance hemodialysis were monitored for cardiac arrhythmias using ambulatory electrocardiographic recording. Atrioventricular dissociation was found in a patient with an elevated serum digoxin concentration, intradialytic supraventricular tachycardia had been present in a second patient during acute uremic pericarditis prior to the study. Ventricular premature beats (VPB) were absent or of low grade (occasional/uniform) in 14 patients and did not increase on dialysis. 3 patients had potentially dangerous VPB of higher grades (multiform, salvos or R on T) which occurred on or after dialysis in 2. 2 of these 3 patients were overdigitalized, and 2 had severe cardiac disease (amyloid, old myocardial infarction). Several other risk factors (age, hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, smoking, hyperlipidemia, electrolyte changes) did not seem to be of importance for VPB. In these patients on maintenance hemodialysis, potentially dangerous VPB were rare and occurred mainly during or after dialysis in patients with preexisting heart disease and/or digitalization.