IS ALUMINUM TOXICITY RESPONSIBLE FOR UREMIC PRURITUS IN CHRONIC-HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Pruritus is a common symptom among patients undergoing long-term hemod ialysis. However, its etiology remains unclear. In an attempt to clari fy its cause we tried to correlate pruritus and its intensity with sev eral serological variables in 94 hemodialysis patients. Our results sh ow that higher serum aluminum concentrations are found in dialysis pat ients with pruritus (p = 0.008) and that the intensity of pruritus is also significantly related to the aluminum concentration (p = 0.007). The intensity of pruritus was also correlated with the calcium-phospha te product (p = 0.03). Our findings suggest that prolonged exposure to aluminum in patients with chronic renal failure might be involved in the pathogenesis of uremic pruritus and elevated calcium-phosphate pro duct seems to be an additional factor predisposing to pruritus.