Do serum aluminum levels reflect underlying skeletal aluminum accumulation and bone histology before or after chelation by deferoxamine?
Patients undergoing dialysis may accumulate tissue aluminum burdens, and are at risk of developing two aluminum-associated syndromes, namely dialysis osteomalacia and encephalopathy. We address the clinical usefulness of serum aluminum levels in the diagnosis of dialysis osteomalacia. Twenty-four patients, 15 with dialysis osteomalacia and nine with clinically apparent secondary hyperparathyroidism, had serum aluminum levels measured before and after a standard infusion of a chelating agent, deferoxamine (DFO). Baseline serum aluminum levels were regarded as “high” (greater than 133 micrograms/L) if they exceeded 1 SD above the mean (74 micrograms/L) for a larger population of 152 patients undergoing routine hemodialysis. All patients had a bone biopsy for assessment of aluminum deposits by a specific histochemical stain. High serum aluminum levels had a diagnostic sensitivity of 60% in predicting those patients ultimately shown to have dialysis osteomalacia associated with histochemic
Related Questions
- Do serum aluminum levels reflect underlying skeletal aluminum accumulation and bone histology before or after chelation by deferoxamine?
- Does the measurement of serum fructosamine accurately reflect levels of glycated albumin in insulin-dependent diabetes?
- Can serum interleukin-6 levels predict the outcome of patients with right iliac fossa pain?
