Do higher dialysate calcium concentrations increase vascular stiffness in haemodialysis patients as measured by aortic pulse wave velocity?
Vascular stiffening in haemodialysis patients over 6 months appears to be driven by factors other than simple net calcium influx and efflux related to dialysate calcium concentration.
Pulse wave velocity increased over the six months study. As pulse wave velocity increased in the group dialysing using the lowest dialysate calcium, it is likely that factors, other than simple net calcium influx and efflux during dialysis according to dialysate calcium concentration are involved with vascular stiffening.
Charitaki et al. (Sun,) studied this question.