Oxidative Stress in Hemodialysis

Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease are at a greatly increased cardiovascular risk that cannot be explained entirely by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. An increase in oxidative stress is proposed as a non-traditional cardiovascular risk factor in this patient population. Many laboratories have now unequivocally demonstrated that uremia is an increased oxidative stress state. Uremic oxidative stress is characterized biologically by an increase in lipid peroxidation products and reactive aldehyde groups as well as by increased retention of oxidized thiols. The pathophysiology of increased oxidative stress in uremia is multifactorial, but the retention of oxidized solute by the loss of kidney function is probably a major contributor.