Effects of lanthanum carbonate on vascular calcification in elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

The effect of lanthanum carbonate on abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) in the elderly maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients was investigated. Fifty-four cases subjected to routine MHD complicated with skin pruritus admitted to our hospital were selected and randomly divided into case group (n=28) and control group (n=26). The control group was given routine MHD alone. The case group was given lanthanum carbonate additionally on the basis of routine MHD. The changes of itching degrees at first and third month, and serum calcium, phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus products, intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels and AAC scores at third month after treatments were compared between the two groups. The correlation between calcium-phosphorus products and AAC scores was also analyzed. There was no significant difference in the baseline of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr), uric acid, albumin, hemoglobin, C reactive protein (CRP), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride, total cholesterol between case group and control group (P>0.05 for all). There was also no significant difference in the baseline itching scores between the case group and the control group (P>0.05). At 1st and 3rd month after treatment, the itching scores in the case group were 14.2 ± 3.2 and 10.5 ± 2.3, respectively, which were significantly lower than the baseline and those in the control group (P<0.05 for all). At 1st and 3rd month after treatment, the itching scores in the control group were 23.6 ± 5.9 and 24.8 ± 6.3, respectively, which were significantly higher than the baseline (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the baseline of serum calcium, phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus products, iPTH levels between the case group and control group (P>0.05). At 3rd month after treatment, serum phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus products and iPTH levels in the case group were decreased significantly as compared with the baseline (P<0.05), and the serum calcium, phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus products, and iPTH levels were statistically decreased as compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). The AAC scores showed statistically significant difference between the case group and the control group (P<0.05). The serum phosphorus and AAC scores showed a positive correlation in both two groups. It was suggested that the administration of lanthanum carbonate in the elderly MHD patients can effectively relieve itching, and simultaneously reduce serum phosphorus and iPTH levels, resulting in the attenuation of vascular calcification.

Factors influencing clinical outcomes of acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) has gained international recognition, clinical outcomes following this thrombolytic therapy varied from patient to patient. Factors affecting clinical outcomes have not been well understood yet, so this retrospective case-control study aimed to investigate factors that may influence clinical outcomes of acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous rt-PA.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred and one patients with acute ischemic stroke who received intravenous rt-PA thrombolysis within 4.5 hours from disease onset were included. Patients were divided into good or poor outcome group according to modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score, good outcome group: mRS score of 0-1; poor outcome group: mRS of 2-6. Stroke characteristics were compared between the two groups. Factors for stroke outcomes were analyzed via univariate analysis and Logistic regression.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 101 patients studied, patients in good outcome group (n = 55) were significantly younger than patients in poor outcome group (n = 46, (62.82 ± 14.25) vs. (68.81 ± 9.85) years, P = 0.029). Good outcome group had fewer patients with diabetic history (9.09% vs. 28.26%, P = 0.012), fewer patients with leukoaraiosis (7.27% vs. 28.26%, P = 0.005) and presented with lower blood glucose level ((5.72 ± 1.76) vs. (6.72 ± 1.32) mmol/L, P = 0.012), lower systolic blood pressure level ((135.45 ± 19.36) vs. (148.78 ± 19.39) mmHg, P = 0.003), lower baseline NIHSS score (12.02 ± 5.26 vs. 15.78 ± 4.98, P = 0.002) and shorter onset-to-treatment time (OTT) ((2.38 ± 1.21) vs. (2.57 ± 1.03) hours, P = 0.044) than poor outcome group. Logistic regression analysis showed that absence of diabetic history (odds ratio (OR) 0.968 (95% CI 0.941-0.996)), absence of leukoaraiosis (OR 0.835 (95% CI 0.712-0.980)), lower baseline NIHSS score (OR 0.885 (95% CI 0.793-0.989)), lower pre-thrombolysis systolic blood pressure (OR 0.962 (95% CI 0.929-0.997)), and lower blood glucose level (OR 0.699 (95% CI 0.491-0.994)) before thrombolysis were significantly associated with better outcome.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Patients with no history of diabetes, no leukoaraiosis, low blood glucose level, low systolic blood pressure level and low baseline NIHSS score before thrombolysis have a better outcome.</p>