ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate plasma levels of total carnitine (TC) and free camitine (FC) in patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.Methods 200 cases of normal group came from physical examination in this hospital,all testing cases were the in-hospital patients in the department of nephropathy.TC and FC were determined by use of an enzymatic cycle assay on Hitachi 7170 automatic biochemical analyzer.Results In 200 cases of normal group,TC level was (56.52?9.61) ?mol/L,and FC was (46.60?8.23) ?mol/L.In 37 hemodialysis patients,TC and FC levels were (41.47?13.22) ?mol/L and (24.58?8.91)?mol/L before dialysis,a statistic difference was observed against the control group (P0.05).Conclusions Carnitine deficiency was seen in most patients undergoing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.Furthermore,the deficiency status got worse along with the dialysis course in hemodialysis patients.Carnitine infusion can effectively improve the status of these patients.