THE ACTION OF RECOMBINANT-HUMAN-ERYTHROPO IETIN (RHE) ON PLATELET ANDRED-CELL FUNCTION IN CHRONIC-RENAL-FAILURE PATIENTS ON HEMODIALYSIS

To elucidate causes of thrombotic complications early in the course of RHE treatment, the authors studied platelet function (by aggregation of washed platelets), cAMP and CGMP as well as TxB2 levels in blood pl asma, red cell function (by MDA content) in 16 patients suffering from chronic renal failure (CRF) on hemodialysis. 8 of them had been on RH E for 1.5 month. It appeared that plasma levels of TxB2 and cGMP incre ased, thrombin-induced platelet aggregation slightly decreased, MDA in red cells on treatment month 1.5 rose. The authors made the conclusio n that early in the course of RHE treatment the conditions promoting a ctive thrombogenesis may arise as a result of red cell induced platele t activation due to increased number of red cells with poor resistance to oxidant damage and hemolysis. Application of RHE in CRF patients s hould be combined with antioxidant therapy, especially in patients at high thrombogenesis risk.