Role of Reverse Osmosis Membranes on the Concentration Fluctuations of Heavy Metals in Used Water by Dialysis Instrument of Hemodialysis Patients Publisher



Pirsaheb M¹ ; Sharafie K¹ ; Naderi S² ; Ghafari H^{3, 4} ; Khosravi T¹ Show Affiliations
Source: Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health Published:2017

Abstract

Background: Hemodialysis (HD) patients have poorly functioning kidneys in terms of blood detoxification; therefore, they need regular and continued HD to be able to continue their lives. Objectives: This study was aimed to survey changes in the concentrations of lead, cadmium, chromium, and zinc by seven dialysis instruments at hospitals of Kermanshah Province. Materials and Methods: One hundred and twenty-six samples were collected from three different dialysis cycles and tested using inductively coupled plasma system. Results: Results showed that the mean concentrations of lead, cadmium, chromium, and zinc were 18.53 ± 8.25, 0.706 ± 0.42, 86.06 ± 5.56, and 112.67 ± 63.56 pbb in the feed water of the reverse osmosis (RO) system (tap water), 18.81 ± 5.32, 0.719 ± 0.53, 84.25 ± 2.46, and 43.39 ± 19.4 in the permeated water of the RO, and 12.56 ± 6.32, 1.39 ± 0.87, 66.15 ± 13.54, and 60.38 ± 22.39 in permeated water of the dialysis instrument, respectively. Efficiency of RO in the dialysis instrument was 61.5 and 2.1% for zinc and chromium removal, respectively while this system was not effective in terms of removing lead and cadmium metals. Increases in lead and cadmium levels in the permeated water of the RO system compared to the feed water indicated that the performance of RO was decreased. Conclusions: It can be concluded that lead and cadmium reduction in the permeated water of the dialysis instrument showed that these two dangerous metals were increased in the blood of HD patients, which might be due to the malfunction of RO membrane.