Periodontal status of chronic renal failure patients receiving hemodialysis

Host factors such as systemic diseases, genetic polymorphism or drug usage play a major role in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease by modifying the host response to periodontal infection or altering the susceptibility to infection by periodontal organisms. This study was designed to evaluate the clinical response of patients receiving hemodialysis to existing microbial dental plaque. Gingival Index (GI) and Plaque Index (PI) scores and probing depths (PD) were recorded for the entire dentition on 36 chronic renal failure patients receiving hemodialysis (H) and 36 systemically healthy individuals (C), matched with the patient group, based on age and extent of plaque accumulation. No statistically significant difference was observed in the clinical parameters between the two groups (PI: t=1.69 p= 0.096; GI: t=1.057 p=0.294; PD: t=0.01 p=0.99). In the present study, H patients revealed a similar response to existing bacterial plaque and their periodontal status was comparable to that of the control group. Although patients receiving hemodialysis have been suggested to present a certain degree of immunosuppression, based on the findings of the present study chronic renal failure does not seem to be an additional risk factor for more severe periodontal destruction.     

Improvement of gastric motility by hemodialysis in patients with chronic renal failure.

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are common in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). We have previously demonstrated that patients with predialysis end-stage renal disease showed a high prevalence of GI symptoms and gastric hypomotility, and that gastric hypomotility appears to be an important factor in generating GI symptoms. However, it is not clear whether impaired gastric motor function would improve after hemodialytic treatment. AIMS: To examine the relationship between gastric motor function and GI symptoms in CRF patients on hemodialysis. METHODS: The study was performed in 19 patients with CRF treated with hemodialysis for more than six months and in 12 matched healthy controls. GI symptom severity was quantified in all patients. Gastric motility was evaluated with cutaneously recorded electrogastrography (EGG) and gastric emptying of semi-solid meals using the (13)C-acetic acid breath test. RESULTS: Six patients had no symptoms, and 11 had slight GI symptoms with a total symptom score of less than 5. Compared with controls, CRF patients revealed no differences in gastric motility parameters, with the exception of a lower percentage of normogastria in EGG at fasting state. Eleven patients had normal gastric motor function (Group A), and eight showed abnormalities of either gastric myoelectrical activity or gastric emptying (Group B). There was no difference in symptom score between Group A and Group B. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the patients with CRF on hemodialysis demonstrated normal gastric motility, and no or slight GI symptoms. Hemodialytic treatment may improve impaired gastric motility and reduce GI symptoms in patients with CRF.     

慢性肾功能衰竭患者血液透析发生院内感染的临床分析

目的分析慢性肾功能衰竭患者血液透析发生院内感染的临床特点以及相关危险因素。方法回顾性分析2005年5月至2010年5月期间在我院长期行血液透析的383例患者的相关临床资料,将其中160例患者出现了不同程度的院内感染设为感染组,223例患者未出现院内感染为未感染组。结果血液透析患者发生院内感染的发生率为41.78%,其中以肺部感染最为常见;感染组与未感染组患者之间的相关临床指标相比较,年龄、住院天数、是否左心衰、是否有糖尿病、是否存在低蛋白血症、插管时间以及C反应蛋白具有统计学差异（P〈0.05或0.01）,而性别、血肌酐、甘油三脂不具有统计学差异（P〉0.05）。结论对于长期血液透析患者,我们应该控制好各个危险因素,规范化管理防治院内感染的相关制度,对患者采取正规的营养支持、纠正贫血、抗感染等支持治疗,及时的作相关病原学检查,严防滥用抗生素。     

Coagulation and fibrinolysis in patients with chronic renal failure on maintenance hemodialysis

Alteration of the coagulation-fibrinolysis system was examined in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. The mean values of fibrinogen, factor V, factor VII, factor VIII, vWF (activity and antigen), factor IX and factor XI were significantly higher in these patients than in control subjects (p less than 0.01), but factor XII alone was significantly lower. Fibrinolytic parameters (euglobulin lysis time, fibrin plate lysis, fibrin degradation products and alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor-plasmin complex) suggested a hyperfibrinolytic state and plasmin generation in the patients' circulation. These findings suggest that the alteration of the coagulation-fibrinolysis system is aggravated by repeated hemodialysis, either by the influence of the dialyzer itself or heparin.     

Red cell alloimmunization in multi-transfused chronic renal failure patients undergoing hemodialysis

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are frequently used in the management of patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) undergoing hemodialysis for dialysis-related anaemia. Consequently, they are subject to all hazards associated with repeated transfusions, such as red cell alloimmunization. A retrospective study was performed to estimate the frequency of alloimmunization against red cell antigens in multitransfused CRF patients. A total of 81 patients (67 males & 14 females) with CRF were studied who received a mean of 8.5 units of RBC matched for ABO & Rh(D) antigens only. Using standard techniques (indirect antiglobulin test, enzyme, polyethylene glycol, and low ionic strength solution), we observed a RBC alloimmunization rate of 9.8% (8/81). Nine alloantibodies were detected in 8 patients, and most (88%) involved antigens in the Rhesus & Kell systems. No correlation was observed with the alloantibody formation & number of units transfused. The calculated risk of 1.3% observed in the present study, suggests that renal failure patients are not at a higher risk of red cell alloimmunization than the general population.     

The silent period in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis

Silent period was evaluated in 20 adult male patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis. Readings were obtained by supramaximal stimulus to the median nerve, during maximum isometric effort of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle against resistance. Two types of abnormalities were observed, motor neuron hypoexcitability with elongated silent period, and motor neuron hyperexcitability with reduction or absence of silent period. Some abnormalities are probably linked with dialysis duration, but show no correlation to presence or absence of peripheral neuropathy. The silent period alterations described in this study could possibly correlate with some other clinical feature frequently seen in patients with chronic renal failure such as hypereflexia of the deep tendon reflexes.     

Patterns of metabolic acidosis in patients with chronic renal failure: impact of hemodialysis

The type of metabolic acidosis in patients with chronic renal failure was studied prospectively over a three-month period in 32 stable patients on chronic hemodialysis using acetate. All patients had pre-dialysis metabolic acidosis (mean TCO2 = 16.6 +/- 0.4 mEq/l, range 10 to 23 mEq/l). The patterns of metabolic acidosis were defined using the ratio: delta AG/delta TCO2 where delta AG is the increment in plasma anion gap above normal and delta TCO2 the decrement in plasma bicarbonate below normal. The group as a whole showed a mixed hyperchloremic and high anion gap pattern with a mean delta AG/delta TCO2 ratio of 53.3 +/- 7.1%. The individual distribution of patterns ranged from a pure hyperchloremic acidosis (24%) to a pure high anion gap acidosis (30%) with the mixed pattern being the most frequent (46%). An inverse correlation between the TCO2 change (y) during the dialysis procedure and the TCO2 (x) prevailing at the start of dialysis was found by linear regression analysis: y = -0.51x + 11, r = -0.54, p less than 0.01. Thus, before acetate conversion to bicarbonate was fully completed, patients gained bicarbonate during dialysis if TCO2 was less than 21 mEq/l and lost it when the pre-dialysis TCO2 was above this level. On average, the delta AG was reduced to a greater extent than the delta TCO2 so that the delta AG/delta TCO2 ratio fell significantly (from 53 +/- 7.1 to 11 +/- 8.8%, p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Soluble CD40 in the serum of healthy donors, patients with chronic renal failure, haemodialysis and chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients.

CD40 and its ligand CD40L are key players in T cell-B cell interaction and T cell-antigen-presenting cell (APC) interaction. Inhibition of CD40-CD40L interaction leads to severe humoral and cellular immunodeficiency. In this study we examined the presence of soluble CD40 (sCD40) in the serum of haemodialysis (HD) patients, CAPD patients, chronic renal failure (CRF) patients and healthy donors in order to evaluate the possible involvement of CD40 in uraemic immunodeficiency. Soluble CD40 was detected in the serum of healthy donors (n = 41) with a mean of 0.14 +/- 0.12 ng/ml and in the urine of healthy donors with a mean of 1.80 +/- 0.74 ng/ml. Soluble CD40 was highly elevated in all patients with impaired renal function. HD patients (n = 22) had up to 100-fold elevated sCD40 levels with a mean concentration of 8.32 +/- 4.11 ng/ml, whereas CAPD patients (n = 10) had considerably lower levels of sCD40 with a mean of 3.58 +/- 2.40 ng/ml. A strong correlation between sCD40 and serum creatinine levels was noted in CRF patients (n = 66). The highly elevated levels of sCD40 may point to the involvement of CD40 and its ligand CD40L in the clinical manifestation of uraemic immunodeficiency.     

Thyroid status and nephron loss--a study in patients with chronic renal failure, end stage renal disease and/or on hemodialysis

Thyroid function was measured in 30 healthy subjects and 84 patients with various degrees of nephron loss (GRF: 70 +/- 15 m/min, 30 +/- 16 ml/min, 10 +/- 7 ml/min and 2.1 +/- 1.3 ml/min). A low T3 and T4 syndrome is evident when GRF is reduced to 30 +/- 16 ml/min while a blunted TSH response is detected earlier in the course of nephron loss. T3 response to TRH was normal and FT4 was not affected by renal dysfunction. The data indicate that in nephron loss hypothalamic-pituitary abnormalities occur.     

Mycobacterium fortuitum endocarditis in a patient with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis.

A case of infective endocarditis due to M. fortuitum in a 54 yr old female with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis is presented. Clinical, microbiological and autopsy findings are discussed.     

Electroencephalographic background activity and blood biochemistry data in patients with chronic renal failure during chronic hemodialysis

There is no particular electroencephalographic activity known to be associated with consciousness disturbance in uremic patients; however, a slow wave activity is generally observed during consciousness disturbance. Abnormal electroencephalographic activity was observed in 30 (67%) of 45 chronic renal failure patients during chronic hemodialysis without consciousness disturbance, and slow wave activity was observed in 58%. The frequency of the electroencephalographic background activity correlated with blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum Ca levels, but not with K, IP, and creatinine levels. Electroencephalographic activity can be estimated with reference to BUN or serum Ca levels in the blood of uremic patients.     

Chronic granulocytic leukaemia in a patient with chronic renal failure on dialysis.

A diagnosis of chronic granulocytic leukaemia was made in a man who had been haemodialysed for three years. The association between leukaemia and chronic renal failure is rare.     

慢性肾衰及血透中多肽生长因子与凋亡因子表达

目的 探讨慢性肾功能衰竭（ＣＲＦ）患者及血液透析（ＨＤ）过程中多肽生长因子及凋亡因子的含量变化及相互关系。方法 采用流式细胞术及放射免疫分析法分别测定ＣＲＦ及ＨＤ前后外周血单核细胞（ＰＢＭＣ）中Ｆａｓ抗原（ＣＤ９５）,线粒体膜蛋白（Ａｐｏ２．７）,抗凋亡因子（ＢＣ１－２）蛋白的阳性细胞数及血清中转化生长因子α（ＴＧＦ－α）,类胰岛素样生长因子（ＩＧＦ－Ⅱ）的含量。结果 ＣＲＦ（非透析组）ＣＤ９５、     

Pathophysiology of blood pressure variability in patients with chronic renal failure under maintenance hemodialysis

The rise of blood pressure is negatively related with the glomerullar filtration rate(GFR) in patients with terminal renal failure. Hypertension may be a mechanism to maintain renal blood flow and GFR constant by the increased driving force of blood to the kidney. Elevated levels of a so-called third factor, now designated as endogenous digitalis, are found in those patients. The most likely candidate of the endogenous digitalis is ouabain, which causes hypertension with chronic administration. On the other hand, extreme hypotension often occurs during maintenance hemodialysis, and since hemodynamic alterations closely resemble endotoxin shock, the involvement of nitric oxide(NO) over-production has been suggested. When we measured nitrate anion as the final metabolite of NO, the concentration was significantly higher in patients with marked hypotension during hemodialysis than those without hypotension. Since reflex tachycardia was not observed during hypotension, we speculated that those patients had autonomic disturbances, and assessed autonomic function by heart rate spectral analysis. Although the high frequency spectral power, regarded as the vagal tone, was not significantly different between the groups, low/high frequency spectral power ratio, which was thought to be a sympathetic component, was significantly lower in patients with hypotension during hemodialysis than that in patients without hypotension. We speculated that NO synthase may be induced by the stimuli to monocytes by tubes and dialyser membrane made of synthetic materials leading to the over production of NO during and after regular hemodialysis. Thus, cytokines may be the mediator of the induction of NO synthase. Dilated capacitance vessels decrease the venous return to the heart, which may be the direct cause of dialysis-induced hypotension.     

Increased whole blood chemiluminescence in patients with chronic renal failure independent of hemodialysis treatment

Introduction: The luminol-enhanced whole blood chemiluminescence (LBCL) assay is a rapid assay for the measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by circulating phagocytes. This study’s aim was to determine if patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and non-dialyzed patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) have altered LBCL and if dialysis itself affects ROS production in the blood. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six HD patients, 11 non-dialyzed patients with CRF, and 20 gender- and age-matched healthy controls were studied. Resting (rCl) and 2 × 10⁻⁵ M n-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-stimulated LBCL (peak chemiluminescence: pCl, total light emission after agonist addition: tCl) calculated per 10⁴ phagocytes present in the 3-μl blood samples were measured with a Bio-Orbit^? 1251 luminometer at 37°C for 11 min. Results: Prior to the HD session, median rCL, pCL, and tCL were 1.5, 3.0, and 2.8 times higher in HD patients than in healthy controls (p<0.01) and tended to increase at the end of the session. Significant increases in tCl were observed at 30 min and 240 min (end) of HD (1023.5 vs. 1810.6 vs. 2006.8 arbitrary units × s/10⁴ phagocytes, n=9, p<0.05). Median pCl and tCl were 5.0 and 4.3 times higher in non-dialyzed patients with CRF than in healthy controls (p<0.001). However, no significant differences were found between pre- and post-HD LBCL of HD patients and the LBCL of non-dialyzed patients with renal failure. Conclusions: Blood from patients with renal failure generates elevated amounts of oxidants independently of HD treatment. This may add to the understanding of the nature of oxidative stress and suggests the need of anti-oxidant treatment in these patients.     

Improvement of sleep apnea in patients with chronic renal failure who undergo nocturnal hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Sleep apnea is common in patients with chronic renal failure and is not improved by either conventional hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. With nocturnal hemodialysis, patients undergo hemodialysis seven nights per week at home while sleeping. We hypothesized that nocturnal hemodialysis would correct sleep apnea in patients with chronic renal failure because of its greater effectiveness. METHODS: Fourteen patients who were undergoing conventional hemodialysis for four hours on each of three days per week underwent overnight polysomnography. The patients were then switched to nocturnal hemodialysis for eight hours during each of six or seven nights a week. They underwent polysomnography again 6 to 15 months later on one night when they were undergoing nocturnal hemodialysis and on another night when they were not. RESULTS: The mean (+/-SD) serum creatinine concentration was significantly lower during the period when the patients were undergoing nocturnal hemodialysis than during the period when they were undergoing conventional hemodialysis (3.9+/-1.1 vs. 12.8+/-3.2 mg per deciliter [342+/-101 vs. 1131+/-287 micromol per liter], P<0.001). The conversion from conventional hemodialysis to nocturnal hemodialysis was associated with a reduction in the frequency of apnea and hypopnea from 25+/-25 to 8+/-8 episodes per hour of sleep (P=0.03). This reduction occurred predominantly in seven patients with sleep apnea, in whom the frequency of episodes fell from 46+/-19 to 9+/-9 per hour (P= 0.006), accompanied by increases in the minimal oxygen saturation (from 89.2+/-1.8 to 94.1+/-1.6 percent, P=0.005), transcutaneous partial pressure of carbon dioxide (from 38.5+/-4.3 to 48.3+/-4.9 mm Hg, P=0.006), and serum bicarbonate concentration (from 23.2+/-1.8 to 27.8+/-0.8 mmol per liter, P<0.001). During the period when these seven patients were undergoing nocturnal hemodialysis, the apnea-hypopnea index measured on nights when they were not undergoing nocturnal hemodialysis was greater than that on nights when they were undergoing nocturnal hemodialysis, but it still remained lower than it had been during the period when they were undergoing conventional hemodialysis (P=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Nocturnal hemodialysis corrects sleep apnea associated with chronic renal failure.     

Frequency and clinical implications of lupus anticoagulant in patients with terminal chronic renal failure in hemodialysis

The objective of the present study was to determine the frequency of lupus anticoagulant (LA), in patients with terminal chronic renal failure (TCRF), and its association with thrombotic events. Sixty three patients were separated into two groups: Group A, consisted of 32 patients under treatment with hemodialysis, and Group B was formed of 31 patients who were treated in a conservative manner. Presence of LA was found in 4 patients from Group A and none from Group B. Seven thrombotic events were registered, all in patients from Group A, and three of the episodes happened in 2 patients with LA, showing a statistically significant difference with LA negative patients from the same Group A (p < 0.001). Three of the LA positive patients suffered from type 2 diabetes and all of them had been under dialysis for less obtained by than 6 months. Vascular access was catheterization which means that 57.1% of patients with this type of procedure were positive for LA. The present results show a strong relationship between the presence of LA and thrombotic episodes in patients with TCRF, under hemodialysis with the use of catheter, instead of a permanent vascular access. Due to the fact that prolonged use of catheters for hemodialysis has been related to positive LA, it is advisable to screen patients under dialysis for the presence of this antibody, and to promote the prompt availability of a permanent vascular access, in order to prevent complications, such as thrombosis.