Boron diffusion across the dialysis membrane during hemodialysis.

To investigate the movement of boron across the dialysis membrane, serum and dialysate boron levels of long-term hemodialysis (HD) patients (n = 17) were determined using inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry in both the inlet and the outlet side of the dialyzer. Results revealed that 77.8% of the serum boron in the inlet side of the dialyzer was filterable and 94.4% of filterable boron was actually filtered during HD. Boron dialysance was found to be 138.6 +/- 16.1 ml/min, and this value was higher than the clearance value of blood urea nitrogen (not significant), phosphorus and creatinine (p < 0.001). It is concluded that HD is effective in eliminating serum boron even at low concentrations, and boron can be classified as an element that is easily diffusible across the dialysis membrane. There seems to be relatively little relation of boron to serum constituents of macromolecules that are reported to have a major impact on the diffusion of trace elements across the HD membrane.