Impact of hepatitis virus infection on arterial calcification among incident hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: The impact of hepatitis virus infection on arterial calcification (AC) was not studied. OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence, severity and distribution of AC in incident hemodialysis patients with hepatitis B and C viral infection. CASES AND METHODS: 172 stage 5 CKD adults (98 male and 74 female) were included; 58 of them were seronegative for both hepatitis B and C (SN group), 48 were positive for hepatitis B virus infection (HBV group) and 66 were hepatitis C virus positive (HCV group). Beside histopathology of the obtained arterial samples, all these cases were examined for body mass index (BMI), serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), alkaline phosphatase (AP), serum albumin, uric acid (UA), alanine transaminase (ALT), parathormone (PTH), fibroblast growth factor 23(FGF23), interleukin 6 (IL6), and 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25 (OH) vit D), hemoglobin concentration, and serum ferritin. RESULTS: 86 (50%) of the cases had AC; 11 of them were in SN group (19%), 9 in HBV group (18.8%) and all the 66 HCV group (100%). In SN group, 4 had intimal calcification, 5 had medial calcification, and 2 had both intimal and medial calcification. In HBV group, 9 had intimal calcification, while no cases were encountered with either medial or both site calcifications. In HCV group, 16 had intimal calcification, 31 had medial calcification, and 19 had both intimal and medial calcification. Calcification was in the form of spots in one case in SN group, and 6 cases in HBV group, a single plaque of calcification in 5 cases of SN group, 3 cases of HBV group, and 16 cases of HCV group, multiple plaques were detected in 4 cases in SN group, and 31 cases in HCV group, and diffuse calcification in one case in SN group, and 19 cases in HCV group. In HBV group, calcification was only detected in patients with high viremia, while all patients with low or moderate viremia were devoid of calcification. In HCV group, all patients with low viremia had intimal solitary plaque of calcification, all patients with moderate viremia had multiple plaques of medial calcification, while all patients with high viremia had diffuse intimal and medial calcification. Both groups of viral hepatitis were significantly different in comparison to SN group in either distribution or calcification score (P<0.001 in all). HBV group had significantly lower serum P, CaxP and PTH in comparison to SN group (4.6±0.66 vs. 5.45±0.77mg/dL, 36.4±7.2 vs. 44.1±8.69, and 348±65.4 vs. 405.9±83.2pg/mL, P<0.001, <0.001, and 0.035 respectively). On the other hand, HCV group did not show any significant difference in any of the studied parameters compared to SN group. CONCLUSION: HCV positive patients are more prone to develop AC that is more extensive. HBV positive patients were less likely to have arterial medial calcification, probably related to lower serum phosphorus, CaxP product and PTH. HCV infection should be added as risk factor for AC among CKD patients. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

High accumulation of elements in the human femoral artery.

The relative contents (RCs) of elements in the femoral arteries as well as the thoracic aorta, coronary, basilar, and radial arteries from 26 subjects within the age range between 55 and 92 yr old, were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The RCs of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral arteries started to increase before the age of 60 yr. The RCs of magnesium increased after the age of 70 yr. However, the RCs of sulfur did not change significantly within the age range between 55 and 92 yr. With regard to localization of the mineral accumulations in the femoral arterial wall, it was found that the accumulations of calcium and phosphorus occurred only in the tunica media, only in the tunica intima, or in both the tunica media and the tunica intima. The manner of accumulation of calcium and phosphorus in the femoral arterial wall was different from that in the aortic wall. The average RCs of calcium in the 26 specimens were the highest in the femoral artery, followed in descending order by the thoracic aorta, coronary, basilar, and radial arteries. The average RCs of phosphorus were highest in the thoracic aorta, followed by the coronary, femoral, basilar, and radial arteries. It is noted that the accumulation of mineral elements never occurred uniformly in all the arteries.