Analytical aspects of hemodialysis

Clinical and biomedical analysis is one of the most significant fields of modern analytical chemistry. Uremia is a significant public-health problem. Chronic hemodialysis, a common renal replacement therapy, is life saving for more than a million uremic patients world-wide and this number is increasing every year. This therapy consumes significant parts of national budgets for health as its costs are comparable with those for intensive care. Hemodialysis treatment should, just like any other therapy, be individually prescribed, and adequately administrated and assessed.

This article reports on the analytical needs connected with biomedical assessment of this therapy. I discuss the main analytical aspects of this therapy, including target analytes, choice of samples, and analytical and bioanalytical systems dedicated to the control of therapy, as well as methods required for the quantitation of hemodialysis using analytical data.