CIRCULATING AGGREGATED PLATELETS, NUMBER OF PLATELETS PER AGGREGATE AND PLATELET SIZE IN CHRONIC DIALYSIS PATIENTS

The accelerated arteriosclerosis of chronic dialysis patients is multi factorial. Both non-uremic patients with atherosclerosis and uremic pa tients have functional platelet abnormalities. Our aim was to study pl atelet function in chronic dialysis patients and to correlate the find ings with the presence of cardiovascular morbidity. Fifty-three chroni c dialysis patients were examined. The presence of risk factors for ca rdiovascular disease (CVD) was recorded, and the patients were examine d for the presence of ischemic heart disease, peripheral vascular dise ase and cerebrovascular accident. The parameters of platelet function, which were examined with the modified Wu and Hoak method, included pl atelet number, percentage of totally, reversibly and irreversibly aggr egated platelets, average number of platelets per aggregate and percen tage of large platelets. Significant differences were found between to tally aggregated platelets, reversibly and irreversibly aggregated pla telets, the percentage of large platelets (p < 0.0001) and the average number of platelets per aggregate (p < 0.001) in dialysis patients co mpared with control persons. There was no difference between the 2 gro ups in platelet count. No differences were found between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis groups, and the duration of dialysis treatment had no effect. We conclude that platelet abnormalities evident in chr onic dialysis patients are a part of the multifactorial etiology of ad vanced CVD and may predispose dialysis patients to CVD.