Using MRI scans to study brain tissue health in dialysis patients

11 April 2025

Professor Susan Francis and colleagues from the University of Nottingham have received a Kidney Research UK start-up grant of £40,000 to look at how salt and water levels change in the brain during haemodialysis.

Female, wearing glasses with her arms folded, standing in front of an MRI machine

Professor Susan Francis

The problem

Patients receiving haemodialysis are three times more likely to develop problems with memory and other thought-related processes (known as cognitive impairment, CI).

The reasons for development of CI in these patients are not known. Previous work in Glasgow funded by Kidney Research UK, the Stroke Association and Darlinda’s Charity for Renal Research, showed certain changes to the brain in haemodialysis patients, such as altered blood flow.

The solution

The team will use special types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to look at salt and water levels in different parts of the brain in patients before and after haemodialysis. These results will be compared to participants not receiving haemodialysis.

Salt levels could be used as an indicator of the health of cells in the brain, with one of the key elements of haemodialysis being to help patients remove salts which cannot be cleared by the kidney. Blood flow within the brain and how water travels along nerve fibres will also be measured. On the day of their scan, participants will also complete problem-solving tasks and a memory test.

The team will be able to assess the impact of haemodialysis on water and salt levels in the brain and look for any patterns or trends in the memory and problem-solving test results.

What could this mean for kidney patients?

This work will help us to understand how brain water and salt levels may change with haemodialysis. Having a clearer understanding of this could help identify new ways to support these patients and inform future research to develop ways of preventing potential CI.

“Dialysis is a vital, life-sustaining treatment but its impact on brain functions like memory can affect patients’ everyday day lives. Understanding the stress on the brain during dialysis could help us to improve treatments in the future.” Professor Susan Francis.