Aluminium toxicity in people on dialysis is a problem for people on

haemodialysis Hemodialysis, also spelled haemodialysis, or simply dialysis, is a process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally. This type of dialysis achieves the extracorporeal removal of waste products such as creatinin ...

. The dialysis process does not efficiently remove excess

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

from the body, so it may build up over time. Aluminium is a potentially toxic metal, and

aluminium poisoning Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

may lead to mainly three disorders: aluminium-induced

bone disease Bone disease refers to the medical conditions which affect the bone. Terminology A bone disease is also called an "osteopathy", but because the term osteopathy is often used to refer to an alternative health-care philosophy, use of the term can ...

microcytic anemia Microcytic anaemia is any of several types of anemia characterized by smaller than normal red blood cells (called microcytes). The normal mean corpuscular volume (abbreviated to MCV on full blood count results, and also known as mean cell volume) ...

and neurological dysfunction (

encephalopathy Encephalopathy (; from grc, ἐνκέφαλος "brain" + πάθος "suffering") means any disorder or disease of the brain, especially chronic degenerative conditions. In modern usage, encephalopathy does not refer to a single disease, but r ...

). Such conditions are more prominently observed in people with

chronic kidney failure Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of kidney disease in which a gradual loss of kidney function occurs over a period of months to years. Initially generally no symptoms are seen, but later symptoms may include leg swelling, feeling tired, vom ...

and especially in people on haemodialysis. About 5–10 mg of aluminium enters human body daily through different sources like water, food, occupational exposure to aluminium in industries, and so on. In people with normal kidney function, serum aluminium is normally lower than 6 microgram/L. Baseline levels of serum aluminium should be <20 microgram/L. According to

AAMI Australian Associated Motor Insurers Limited (commonly referred to as AAMI) is an Australian general insurance provider offering car, home, CTP and business insurance. AAMI has vehicle assessment centres in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland ...

, standard aluminum levels in the dialysis fluid should be less than 0.01 milligram/L.

References

Aluminium Renal dialysis Toxicology {{disease-stub