Monday, December 02, 2013

Hot Bath for CKD?

Came across this interesting paper by Ting Y et al.

Authors found that a 30-min hot water bath daily or 2-hour sauna bath three times a week is effective for fluid and solute clearance for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The weight loss per session can be as high as 1.5-2kg (sweat rates in sauna and hot water bath were 56 and 40ml/min respectively), and calculated losses of urea and potassium in sweat fluid were 43 and 12 mmol/hr compared with 117 and 20 mmol/hr by hemodialysis.

Moreover, the "side benefits" of it include a decrease in systolic BP without affecting heart rate, and a significant decrease in plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine. Earlier studies also showed role of thermal vasodilation resulting in hemodynamic improvement in congestive cardiac failure.

Authors concluded that eccrine sweat fluid assumes a natural alternative route for nitrogenous metabolites excretion; and hot bath or sauna bath can be used as valuable adjunct to conventional renal replacement methods for CKD patients.

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