J. Winkler et al., CIRCULATING AGGREGATED PLATELETS, NUMBER OF PLATELETS PER AGGREGATE AND PLATELET SIZE IN CHRONIC DIALYSIS PATIENTS, Nephron, 77(1), 1997, pp. 44-47
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.