Blood flow sclera during dialysis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pilot study to determine whether there are changes in blood vessels in the sclera during haemodialysis
IRAS ID
254707
Contact name
andrew davenport
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2018/11/39 , UCL Data Protection Registration
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 1 days
Research summary
A fall in blood pressure is the most common side effect of kidney dialysis treatments.
Falls in blood pressure (intra-dialytic hypotension) are associated with an increased risk of both death and frailty with loss of functional status for the older patient.Blood flow to the skin falls during a dialysis session, thus current devices used in clinical practice including finger pulse oximeters fail to sufficiently detect changes in blood flow to be able to predict intra-dialytic hypotension.
As fluid is removed from patients during the dialysis session then the flow in small blood vessels falls shown by studies which have measured blood flow in blood vessels underneath the tongue. Unfortunately placing a microscope and camera taking regular photographs during a dialysis session is not practical or acceptable to patients.
In this pilot study we wish to take photographs of the sclera (the white part of the eye) at the start, and mid-way and at the end of the dialysis session using a smart phone, and then analyse the images to determine whether there are discernable changes in blood flow in the blood vessels in the sclera. If we can determine that there are changes in blood flow then this may lead to the future development of a monitoring device which could be used to predict falls in blood pressure during dialysis.
REC name
London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0223
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion