Avoiding arrythmias by personalizing the dialysate concentration: a case for precision medicine in patients on dialysis.

Abstract

Cardiac arrythmias are common in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. In this issue, Charytan et al. showed that in patients with hyperkalemia (serum potassium concentration 5.10-6.50 mmol/l [5.1-6.5 mEq/l]) on hemodialysis, a dialysate concentration of 3 mEq/l combined with sodium zirconium cyclosilicate on dialysis-free days is associated with a lower frequency of atrial fibrillation compared with a dialysate concentration of 2 mEq/l over 8 weeks. Despite the obvious limitations such as small sample size, short treatment period, and lack of information on longer-term impact on important patient outcomes such as sudden death, this well-conceived pilot study provided impetus for larger prospective trials to test whether this personalized approach reduces major cardiovascular events and mortality.