What pre-treatment lab values are critical to check before dialysis?

Before initiating dialysis, it is essential to evaluate critical pre-treatment lab values to ensure patient safety and optimize treatment outcomes. Among these, checking electrolytes, hemoglobin, and dialysis adequacy is paramount.

Electrolytes, such as potassium, sodium, and bicarbonate levels, are vital to assess because they can significantly affect heart and muscle function. An imbalance in these electrolytes can lead to severe complications during dialysis. For instance, high potassium levels can cause dangerous cardiac arrhythmias.

Hemoglobin levels are crucial as they help determine the patient's anemia status. Anemia is common in patients with kidney failure, and ensuring that hemoglobin levels are adequate will inform both the need for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents or blood transfusions prior to starting dialysis.

Additionally, evaluating dialysis adequacy through lab values provides insight into how well the patient's kidneys are functioning and the efficiency of the dialysis treatment itself. Measuring urea reduction ratio (URR) or Kt/V are common methods to assess this adequacy.

The other options include factors that, while important in a broader context of patient health, do not directly align with essential pre-treatment values specifically for dialysis procedures. Blood pressure and temperature are general health indicators but do not provide the specific biochemical