arterial pressures

[Gibbie]

I am rather new to dialysis and still trying to figure everything out. I was wondering why an arterial pressure will slowly drop during treatment. It does not happen often but when it does there does not seem to be any connection to any obvious problem. By dropping, I mean fron -250 to -60-70s. There are no alarms and treatment seems to run okay. Is this something to be worried about? Is it related to the dialyzer size.? Thanks for your input.

[ageless]

I found this on Ikidney and it says it better than I can, so I "stole" it for you..............

Normal arterial readings are from -20mmHg to -200mmHg

The most common causes of arterial low-pressure alarms (more negative) are wet transducer protector, poor needle placement, low blood pressure, line separation, or access problems. Other causes are clotted, clamped, or kinked arterial tubing. The most common cause of high arterial pressure alarms is a clotted dialyzer.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

You mean the pressure is becoming less negative?

Going from -250 to -60,-70 means it is not pulling as hard. Ususally, this is a good thing, if you are maintaining the same BFR.

[timejunkie]

Experience has shown me that a drop in arterial pressure is usually one of two things - either your transducer protector is wet or you have a kink in your blood line. These would be the first places I would check. With such a drop it would make me wonder if you were actually getting the set flow.