[Evolution of the aluminum concentration in the final dialysis solution: Multicenter study in Spanish dialysis centers].

espanolLas soluciones de dialisis contaminadas con aluminio representan la fuente de exposicion al aluminio mas peligrosa en pacientes en dialisis. El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer la concentracion de aluminio en la solucion final de dialisis de los centros espanoles en 1999 y comparar estos resultados con los obtenidos en estudios previos. Para ello, se invito a participar a los 275 centros de dialisis espanoles midien- do el aluminio en la solucion final de dialisis de cada uno de ellos. Los resulta- dos fueron comparados con otros dos estudios transversales que habian sido rea- lizados en 1990 y 1994 siguiendo la misma metodologia. Los centros participantes fueron 242 (88%). El porcentaje de centros con alu- minio en la solucion final de dialisis por debajo de 2 μg/L se ha incrementado progresivamente (45% en 1990, 69,8 en 1994 y 81,8% en 1999). Ademas, se observo un incremento importante en el porcentaje de centros con niveles in- detectables de aluminio ( En resumen, la calidad de las soluciones de dialisis ha mejorado notable- mente durante los 10 ultimos anos, si bien todavia existe un porcentaje no despreciable de centros (4,1%) con niveles de aluminio excesivamente altos (> 10 μg/L) EnglishAluminium contaminated dialysate is the most dangerous source of aluminium for dialysis patients. The aim of this study was to assess the aluminium content in the dialysis fluid in all the Spanish dialysis centres in 1999 and to compare the results with those obtained in previous studies. For this purpose, all the 275 Spanish centres were invited to participate, we me- asured the concentration of aluminium in the dialysis fluids in all of them. Alumi- nium was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry. Since 1988 our laboratory has participated in a external quality assessment scheme for aluminium measure- ment (University of Surrey) having a good performance (fig. 1). The aluminium con- centration in the dialysis fluids were compared with the results obtained in other 2 cross sectional studies performed in 1990 and 1994 following the same methodo- logy. The participating centres were 242 out of 275 (88%). The percentage of centres with a concentration of aluminium in the dialysis fluid lower than 2 μg/l has in- creased throughout the period of study (45% in 1990, 69.8% in 1994 and 81.8% in 1999, fig. 2). One important finding of the new study was the increment in the percentage of centres having undetectable aluminium ( Taking into account the aluminium content, the quality of the dialysis fluid has improved during the last 10 years, although there is still a non negligible percenta- ge of centres (4.1%) with high aluminium concentration in the dialysis fluid (> 10 μg/L).