INTRODUCTION
There has been a rise in the incidence and prevalence of end-stage renal
disease (ESRD) in recent years. 1 Cardiovascular
diseases (CVD) are the main causes of death in patients undergoing
dialysis. 2 The role of the traditional risk factors
(e.g., arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus) is important in the
pathogenesis of CVD, however it can not be fully explained with these
risk factors. 3
Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is one of the major predictors of
mortality and heart failure in this patient group. It has been shown
that patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD), which is usually carried out
via a surgically created arteriovenous fistula (AVF), have an increased
risk for pulmonary hypertension and poorer right ventricular function
compared with healthy controls. 4,5 Chronic
pressure/volume overload of the RV determined by AVF leads to a
progressive rise in pulmonary pressures and deteriorates RV function.6 However, several other pathogenic mechanisms and
risk factors which are frequently observed in ESRD patients, can be
responsible for RV dysfunction.
In our previous study that we compared peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients
and healthy controls in terms of echocardiographic RV function, we
showed that RV function, assessed by conventional echocardiography in PD
patients, did not differ from healthy controls. 7However, the literature includes a limited number of studies regarding
the comparison of the effects of different dialysis modalities on RV
function in ESRD patients. The aim of the current study was to elucidate
the impact of both long-term PD and HD therapy via AVF, on RV function
in ESRD patients with preserved left ventricular (LV) function.