[The prevalence of hepatitis B and C in blood donors in a 3rd-level hospital of Mexico City]. / Prevalencia de hepatitis B y C en donadores de sangre en un hospital de tercer nivel de la ciudad de México.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and B virus (HBV) in blood donors attending Médica Sur Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 9,099 blood donors were tested for hepatitis B and C viruses from 1994 to 1998. A questionnaire was used to collect data and HCV and HBV were detected in serum. We obtained percentages and assessed statistical significance using the chi 2 test. RESULTS: The prevalence of HCV and HBV carriers was 0.47 and 0.11 per cent. The main risk factors were dental procedures (11.6% for HCV and 20%, for HBV), and unsafe sexual practices (20%) for HBV. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate a low prevalence of HCV and HBV infection in this population.

[Chronic end-stage kidney failure in Mexico]. / Algunas reflexiones sobre la insuficiencia renal crónica terminal en México.

Chronic renal failure is an expanding and complex problem in Mexico. This work analyzes its current situation and finds a clear imbalance between supply and demand for specialized services, that favors the latter. To explain said imbalance, it invokes four factors: the recent innovation in nephrology and parallel disciplines; educational deficit of medical schools; high costs of rehabilitation of the uremic patient, and the absence of specifically designed mechanisms for financing the treatment of this disease.

[Renovascular hypertension. Studies of 16 cases with long-term follow-up]. / Hipertensión renovascular. Estudio de 16 casos seguidos a largo plazo.

Surgical correction of renovascular hypertension was studied in 16 patients. In all the patients severe high blood pressure and stenosis of at least one renal artery was demonstrated; in 14 patients plasma renin activity (PRA) in renal veins and peripheral blood was measured. All cases were followed for 36 to 48 months after surgical treatment. Blood pressure was normalized after surgical treatment (2 aortorenal bypasses, 2 nephrectomies and 7 autotransplants) in 7 patients, all of them had hyperreninemia, hypersecretion from the stenotic kidney and suppression of the contralateral kidney. In one patient with stenosis of one renal artery, blood pressure was normalized after surgery, even though no alterations in renin secretion was demonstrated. Surgery (1 bypass, 2 nephrectomies, 1 autotransplant and 1 aortorenal anastomosis) induced a decrease in blood pressure in five patients, all had normal PRA in peripheral blood and hypersecretion from the stenotic kidney. Three patients remained hypertensive in spite of nephrectomy of the stenotic kidney all had hyperreninemia without lateralization. In two patients renal failure was evident from the time they entered the study; both had hyperreninemia, lateralization and suppression of the contralateral kidney, one improved with nephrectomy of stenotic kidney and hemi-nephrectomy of the contralateral and the other remained hypertensive after nephrectomy. The initial status of renin secretion has prognostic value for the response to surgical treatment of renovascular hypertension.