Hip arthropathy associated with hemodialysis - Radiological and laboratoryevaluation of 56 hemodialysis patients

There were 56 consecutive patients enrolled in our study from the outpatien t clinic of our institution, mean age of 59 years, who had been on hemodial ysis for 2-26 years. The duration of hemodialysis was less than 10 years fo r 36 patients (short-term group) and 10 years or more for 20 patients (long -term group) with a mean duration of 11 years at time of the investigation. In the shortterm group, plain radiography revealed bone cysts in 9 hips (1 7%) and joint space narrowing in 10 hips (19%), while in the long-term grou p, there were bone cysts in 19 hips (48%) and joint space narrowing in 6 hi ps (15%). Bone mineral density as determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptio metry was 0.621 g/cm(2) for patients in the shortterm group and 0.503 g/cm( 2) for patients in the long-term group. Hip arthroplasties were performed i n 3 patients suffering from femoral neck fracture due to bone cysts. All of them showed marked bone loss (mean 0.380 g/cm(2)). In conclusion, plain ra diography and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry are useful for evaluating th e hip arthropathy of hemodialysis patients, especially those who have under gone long-term hemodialysis.