Background: Urea kinetic modelling is a method for verifying that the amount of dialysis prescribed equals the amount of dialysis delivered. DOQI guidelines help to assess the causes of a low Kt/V: fistula integrity, treatment duration, methods of obtaining BUN samples, dialysis machine and patient specific variables.
Objective: To demonstrate the relation between food intake during HD and measurement of Kt/V.
Methods: Prospective study on 14 patients. We measured the amount of dialysis during the second week, with and without food intake during HD. HD prescription (blood flow, dialysate flow, dialyser, dry weight, heparin) was not changed. Statistical analysis was performed using Paired T test.
Conclusions: 1. There was no significant change in protein catabolic rate, average urea concentration and intradialysis gain with food intake. 2. There was a significant change in levels of Kt/V using Gotch formula and Dugirdas formula with food intake.