Affiliations: [a] Surgical, Medical and Dental Department of Morphological Sciences, Section of Nephrology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| [b] Divisione di Nefrologia, Dialisi e Trapianto Renale, Dipartimento di Medicina e Specialitá Mediche, Policlinico di Modena, Modena, Italy
| [c]
Department of Oncology and Haematology, Section of Transfusion Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Francesco Fontana, Dipartimento Chirurgico, Medico, Odontoiatrico e di Scienze Morfologiche con Interesse Trapiantologico, Oncologico e di Medicina Rigenerativa, Sezione di Nefrologia, Via del Pozzo 71, 41124 Modena, Italy. Tel.: +39 3391473201; Fax: +39 300594224167; E-mail: francesco.fontana@unimore.it.
Abstract: Dialysis patients present a cardiovascular risk substantially higher than general population, due to both traditional and non-traditional risk factors. Hemorheologic alterations have been extensively described in hemodialysis patients (HD), while little data on hemorheology exist about peritoneal dialysis patients (PD). Aim of our study is to characterize the hemorheological profile of 49 PD, and to compare these data with HD and healthy volunteers. PD showed an improvement of parameters related to macro-circulation (plasma viscosity, whole blood viscosity at 1-Hz, erythrocyte aggregation index and yield stress) when compared to HD, while microcirculatory function resulted severely impaired, as expressed by high values for whole blood viscosity 200-Hz shear rate and lower erythrocyte deformability (ED). In conclusion, we found hemorheologic alterations in PD, with substantial differences with respect to HD; in particular, PD showed profound dysfunction in microcirculatory flow with impaired ED. This alterations may act as a risk factor for accelerated atherosclerosis and precipitate cardiovascular events, and it may have a detrimental effect in the peritoneal microcirculation promoting endothelial activation with subsequent fibrosis, leading to peritoneal membrane malfunctioning.
