The measurement and management of volume state among long-term dialysis patients has not received much attention. Recent reports suggest that relative plasma volume monitoring may be useful in identifying patients who have volume excess. Among patients who have evidence of excess volume by relative plasma volume monitoring, excess volume removal leads to improvement in interdialytic ambulatory blood pressure. Implementation of this technique can result in improved classification of patients into volume-sensitive and -resistant categories and therefore improve the management of hypertension.
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