I'm new, so please bear w/ me. I am wondering if a 2 mEq increase in K+ has the same direct corelation to the final conductivity as a 2 mEq/l increase of Na+ does. ie. 142 to 144 means the coductivity for Na changes from 14.2 to 14.4
Thanks

Hi Boog. The answer to your question is yes. Changing the potassium by 2 mEq/l has the same effect as changing the sodium, calcium or any other cation by the same amount. Here's how to calculate the Theoretical Conductivity of dialysate:

TCD = (all cations)-6 divided by 10.

So you add up all positive ions of the acid and bicarb (Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium) then subtract by six and divide by 10. When you plug the numbers in you will see that the dialysate gets almost all of its conductivity from sodium ions, and very little from the other ions. So changing from a 1K+ to a 3K+ does make a small but noticeable difference.

Hope this helps