[The role of the venous reservoir in maintaining arterial pressure during hemodialysis. Effect of dihydroergotamine]. / Rôle du réservoir veineux dans le maintien de la pression artérielle au cours de l'hémodialyse. Action de la dihydroergotamine.

Hemodialysis has been reported to produce a decrease in cardiac output partially related to a peripheral relocation of blood volume. In order to further evaluate this hypothesis, the hemodynamic effects of dihydroergotamine (DHE), a veino-constrictor drug, were investigated in 5 patients undergoing hemodialysis. Body weight, total blood volume, arterial blood pressure, cardiac output and heart rate were obtained before (period A) and immediately after hemodialysis: before (period B) and after an acute infusion of DHE (period C); studies were performed in supine then in tilted position. During period B, cardiac index decreased by 27% (p less than 0.05) and stroke index by 35% (p less than 0.02). Acute infusion of DHE produced a significant increase in cardiac index (+ 18%, p less than 0.05), stroke index (+ 28%, p less than 0.05) and blood pressure (+ 20%, p less than 0.05). These results indicate that the hemodynamic alterations induced by hemodialysis may be partially reversed by contraction of the capacitance system following DHE infusion.

[Mytomycin C nephrotoxicity. 3 new cases and review of the literature]. / La néphrotoxicité de la mitomycine C. Trois nouvelles observations et revue de la littérature.

Three women with adenocarcinoma of cardia, adenocarcinoma of liver or ileum carcinoid tumor, respectively, were treated with mitomycin C (MMC) and 5-fluoro-uracil (5-FU). Two patients had renal impairment 6 and 11 months, the third as early as 8 weeks after initiation of MMC therapy. In the three cases, blood transfusions appeared to play an aggravating role inducing respiratory distress, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, and to accelerate progression of renal failure. Death occurred in the first patient; terminal renal insufficiency necessitated hemodialysis treatment in the second, and after 10 plasma exchanges, renal failure remained stable in the third. Light and electron microscopy study of the kidney revealed renal lesions compatible with thrombotic microangiopathy in all cases. Mesangiolysis with swollen nuclei of endothelial cells in most glomeruli was also seen in two cases. We compared our observations with the findings found in 30 previously reported cases. These observations substantiate the renal toxicity of mitomycin C.