Short-term evolution of cardiac structure and function in patients on maintenance hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease: A quasi-experimental, non-randomized, evaluation echocardiography study in Cameroon, sub-Saharan Africa

Adequate hemodialysis has been shown to improve volume overload and uremia in the short term. The short-term modifications to cardiac structure and function with hemodialysis in chronic kidney disease have not been prospectively studied in our setting. Between December 2016 and May 2017, we carried out a quasi-experimental, non-randomized evaluation study in 2 hemodialysis centers: the university teaching hospital and the general hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon. We included consenting adults aged ≥18 years, with an indication of maintenance hemodialysis. We collected baseline echocardiographic data before initiating dialysis, and after 60 days of thrice-weekly sessions of maintenance hemodialysis. Measurements were collected with a SonoScape S8 echograph (SonoScape Medical Corp., Shenzhen, China) by the same cardiologist, blinded to the pre-dialysis measurements. A total of 31 patients with end-stage renal disease were recruited for the study. At day 60, 20 participants completed the study, and 11 were excluded from the analysis.