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M M Avram

Publications and source records attributed to M M Avram.

79 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Medical nephrectomy. The use of metallic salts for the control of massive proteinuria in the nephrotic syndrome.

Two patients with intractable massive proteinuria and uremia were followed and treated with standard mecial therapy and dialysis. After a period of study and demonstration of clinical deterioration both patients were given solutions containing sodium mercaptomerin. Within days there was a decline in urine protein excretion and a variable increase in serum protein concentration. The patients demonstrated an increase in blood pressure, which made hemodialysis treatment possible. No deleterious effects from the mercury salts were noted. These observations suggest that in selected cases nephrotoxic agents may be of value in decreasing massive proteinuria, and improving protein homeostasis in uremic patients. Table I: Possible advantages of medical nephrectomy. 1. Reversal of hypotension and shock 2. Ability to perform hemodialysis 3. No anesthesia or surgical risk 4. No angiography related complications 5. Preservation of endocrine function of kidney. Possible advantages of medical nephrectomy (Table I), are: 1) Correction of proteinuria and hypotension; 2) Ability to perform hemodialysis; 3) No anesthesia or surgical risk; 4) No angiography related complications; and 5) Preservation of remaining endocrine function of the kidney, including erythropoietic and vitamin D action. The ideal agent should be non-toxic to other organs and produce selective renal ablation. Obviously mercury is not the ideal agent, although in these cases it did not produce observable side effects. It appears that this agent should be used with caution and only in patients with irreversible renal failure.

Aged↗

Fall of cholesterol with time on dialysis: impact on atherogenicity.

The majority of patients treated for chronic renal failure die from cardiovascular complications. Lipid abnormalities in this group are thought to contribute to this high mortality. The authors have shown that hemodialysis patients with longer months on dialysis tend to have lower total cholesterol (TC) levels. This study extends data to examine lipid disturbances in 53 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and 126 hemodialysis patients using multivariate analysis. Longitudinal values after 9-10 months were measured in 16 CAPD patients and 52 hemodialysis patients. Analysis of covariance for all patients demonstrated an inverse correlation of TC (p = 0.003), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (p = 0.01), and apolipoprotein A-I levels (p less than 0.02) with months on dialysis. In addition, the TC level was higher in women (p less than 0.001) and CAPD patients (p less than 0.001), and correlated with age (p = 0.02) and albumin (p less than 0.001). HDL cholesterol was higher in blacks (p less than 0.001) but was not affected by gender, dialysis modality, age, or albumin. Diabetic status, serum parathyroid hormone, and blood pressure were not significant variables for TC or HDL-C. The atherogenic risk indicators, TC/HDL cholesterol (p less than 0.001) and apolipoprotein B (p less than 0.02) were higher in whites than in blacks. Longitudinal study revealed lower TC levels in individual hemodialysis patients (p less than 10(-6) by paired t-test), the fall being greater for patients with fewer total months on dialysis (p less than 0.04, by analysis of covariance). CAPD patients had no change in TC by paired t-test.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Apolipoproteins↗

Longitudinal survey of apolipoproteins and atherogenic risk in hemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients.

Total cholesterol (TC) and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) have been studied in dialysis patients, but a systematic study of apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, apo B, and the anti-atherogenic risk ratio, apo A-I/apo B, over time has not been done. We report lipid and apo values over 12-14 months in 55 hemodialysis (HD) and 40 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. For HD patients, mean TC fell, but not significantly, and HDL-C and TC/HDL-C, an atherogenic risk ratio, did not change over time. Apo A-I/apo B correlated with months on HD (r = 0.30, p less than 0.04) and rose significantly (p less than 0.005) during the study period. Paired t-test analysis by race, gender, and diabetes showed that in nondiabetics, apo A-I rose, apo B fell (p less than 0.05), and apo A-I/apo B improved (p less than 0.002). Similar trends were seen in all subgroups except for diabetics. For CAPD patients, total months of treatment correlated with TC/HDL-C (r = 0.46, p less than 0.05) and with HDL-C (r = -0.53, p less than 0.02), but paired t-test analysis of longitudinal data showed no significant changes in TC, HDL-C, apo A-I, apo B, TC/HDL-C, or apo A-I/apo B. The lipoprotein patterns of all patients who died were not significantly different from those of the surviving patients. Our longitudinal data reveal that lipids, apolipoproteins, and risk ratios remain stable over time on HD and CAPD. In fact, the anti-atherogenic index of apo A-I/apo B improved in HD patients, especially in nondiabetics.

Adult↗

Lipids in diabetic and nondiabetic hemodialysis and CAPD patients.

To examine the question of "accelerated atherogenesis" in ESRD patients, the authors conducted a lipid survey among their hemodialysis and CAPD populations and evaluated data relevant to the lipid and diabetic status of these groups. Interestingly, longer duration of hemodialysis in nondiabetic patients was associated with lower cholesterol but not HDL, which may reflect diminished cardiac risk and mortality in the long-term survivors. Diabetic patients showed lower HDL but no cholesterol change with longer duration on hemodialysis. Type I diabetics showed the highest HDL and lowest risk ratio and a strong inverse correlation between PTH and HDL. This study highlights the role of lipids in the atherogenesis of uremia and serves as a baseline for a longitudinal study.

Adult↗

Anemia severity and missed dialysis treatments in erythropoietin-treated hemodialysis patients.

Neither the sociodemographic correlates nor the biochemical/clinical consequences of missed dialysis treatments have been well defined. During a 10 week period, the authors enumerated missed dialysis treatments among 430 patients randomly selected from a pool of 1,395 hemodialysis patients. A forward logistic regression model was used to determine whether a relationship existed between missed dialysis treatments and the following independent variables: age, gender, race, renal diagnosis, length of time on maintenance hemodialysis, co-morbidity index, modified Karnofsky score, employment status, household residents, and laboratory indices. Forty-three (10%) of 430 patients missed a total of 96 treatments. Despite equivalent treatment with erythropoietin, patients who missed dialysis treatment(s) had a lower mean hematocrit (27 +/- 4.3%) at the end of the study than those patients who underwent all treatments (29 +/- 4.5%) (p = 0.0287). Mean serum albumin and creatinine levels were equivalent in compliant and noncompliant patients. Recent starts (p = 0.0048), and younger patients (p = 0.0424) were most likely to miss dialysis treatment(s). One of the major consequences of missed dialysis treatment(s) is exacerbation of anemia, and younger patients and freshly started patients are more likely to miss scheduled dialysis treatments than their respective counterparts.

Adult↗