The rheological profile of 45 patients who had kidney failure and were undergoing periodical hemodialysis was studied to ascertain whether they showed rheological alterations and if these alterations improved after hemodialysis. Our results indicate that the patients studied suffer rheological alterations with respect to the control group, specifically increased plasma fibrinogen (436
\pm
119 vs 271
\pm
43 mg/dl,
p<{}
0.001), increased plasma viscosity (1.30
\pm
0.10 vs 1.22
\pm
0.05 mPa.s,
p<{}
0.001), higher erythrocyte aggregability (8.3
\pm
1.2 vs 7.4
\pm
1.4,
p<{}
0.01) and a lower hematocrit (31.2
\pm
5.9 vs 43.4
\pm
3.7,
p<{}
0.001). In contrast, erythrocyte deformability did not seem to be altered with respect to the control group. The analyses carried out immediately after hemodialysis showed that in general the rheological profile worsened during this treatment; there was a significant increase in fibrinogen and in plasma viscosity. The rheological alterations detected may play a role in the development of the atherosclerosis processes often experienced by these patients.
