Hippokratia 2003, 7(1):27-32
N Sotirakopoulos, T Tsitsios, M Stambolidou, G Athanasiou, V Kokkinou, K Mavromatidis
Dialysis Unit, General Hospital of Komotini, Komotini, Greece, Laboratory of Dioengeniaring, University of Patras, Patras, Greece
Abstract
Anemia is the main problem for patients suf fering from end stage renal failure (ESRF).In this study the index of rigidity (IR), that shows red blood cells (RBCs) deformability was determined, in patients with ESRF that were on maintenance haemodialysis (HD) or on peritoneal dialysis, in order to find out if there are disturbances that can explain the cause of anaemia.
The IR was determined in 39 haemodialysed patients, that were dialysed from 16 to 120 months (MO±SD: 41.8±24.1) and constituted group A.Furthermore,this index was studied in 32 patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), that were dialysed from 6 to 60 months (MO±SD: 10.7±9.9 and constituted group B. Finally, the index was studied in 17 normal individuals that constituted the control group (group C). The IR of RBCs was determined in group A twice (before and after the end of a haemodialysis session) and in the other two groups (B,C) once. All patients (HD and CAPD) were in substitution treatment for more than 6 months. The IR was determined haemoreometric (method of f iltration), with special equipment. According to this method the deformability of the RBCs was determined. That is,the more deformability of RBCs increasing,the less starked they are. In group A an increased IR was observed in comparison to the control group (C) (17.9±6.2 vs 10.2±1.8, p < 0.0001), that increased more after the end of the haemodialysis session (paired t test, p < 0,0001). The IR of RBCs in CAPD patients was signif icantly lower than this of HD patients (12?±3.8 vs 17.9?±6.2, p < 0.0001) and it was not statistically different from the control group (12±3.8 vs 10.2±1.8, p: 0.068).
It can be concluded from the study that: a) In HD patients there are disturbances of deformability of the RBCs, that are worsened with haemodialysis session b) the index of rigidity of RBCs is signif icantly higher in the HD patients in comparison to CAPD patients c) in patients on CAPD the disturbance of deformability of the RBCs was less in comparison to the control group, which however does not reach the statistically signif icant levels.