Cerebral Microembolism During Hemodialysis

There is increasing evidence that renal replacement therapy (= continuous veno-venous hemodialysis) generates cerebral microembolism which is detectable on transcranial Doppler ultrasound. The aim of this study is to monitor patients with transcranial Doppler under two conditions: during hemodialysis and in a hemodialysis-free interval (in each period cerebral embolic load is detected during 30 minutes). The study hypothesis is that during hemodialysis the cerebral embolic load is significantly higher than in the hemodialysis-free interval.