[Regression of severe periarticular calcifications during treatment with bisphosphonate in a dialysis patient]. / Opløsning af svaere periartikulaere forkalkninger under behandling med bisfosfonat hos en dialysepatient.

Treatment with etidronate, 400 mg daily, induced total regression of severe, disabling periarticular calcifications during a treatment period of 42 months in a patient with chronic kidney disease on dialysis treatment. All symptoms disappeared. No adverse effects were recorded during the treatment. Thus, treatment with etidronate can induce regression of the periarticular calcifications which comprise a complication to chronic renal failure.

Repetitive measurements of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in healthy control subjects and dialysis patients: a prospective study.

Infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae has been suggested to play a role in the development and maintenance of atherosclerosis. However, the course of C. pneumoniae infection is not clarified. Thus, both the persistence of C. pneumoniae DNA in blood and the tendency to recurrence have not been studied. We determined the prevalence of C. pneumoniae DNA in the white cells of the peripheral blood in 98 dialysis patients and in 52 healthy subjects. Blood samples were collected approximately 6 times from each subject during a period of 1 y with an interval of approximately 2 months and analysed with a polymerase chain reaction. C. pneumoniae DNA was detectable in 47 out of 150 subjects at least once during a y. Reinfection was a rare phenomenon and the presence of C. pneumoniae DNA in blood was of less than 2 months' duration in almost all patients. There was a significant association between the presence of C. pneumoniae DNA during 1 y and the presence of atherosclerosis in the legs of dialysis patients (OR=3.50, p=0.03). Additionally, a significant association was found between the presence of C. pneumoniae DNA and an abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) (OR=3.16, p=0.01). These findings may support the hypothesis of an association between infection with C. pneumoniae and the presence or development of atherosclerosis.

Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in healthy control subjects and patients with diabetes mellitus, acute coronary syndrome, stroke, and arterial hypertension.

Infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae has been suggested to play a role in the development and maintenance of atherosclerosis based on differences in the prevalence of antibodies against Chlamydia pneumoniae in patients with and without atherosclerotic lesions. We evaluated the prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in the white cells of the peripheral blood in 194 patients with diabetes mellitus, 50 patients with acute coronary syndrome, 102 hypertensive patients, 193 patients having suffered a stroke and in 368 healthy subjects with a nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR). Overall the prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in peripheral blood cells was: diabetes mellitus (11.9%), stroke (10.4%), hypertension (6.9%), acute coronary syndrome (4.0%) and healthy subjects (7.9%). The prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in the patients was not significantly different from prevalence in the healthy subjects. However, a significant association was found between high levels of triglycerides and presence of C. pneumoniae DNA (OR = 3.27, p < 0.04). The prevalence of C. pneumoniae DNA was not associated with age, gender, smoking, BMI, HDL, CRP, plasma creatinine and symptoms or signs of ischaemic heart disease. The association between high levels of triglycerides and C. pneumoniae DNA suggests that infection by C. pneumoniae affects lipid metabolism.