"Cardiac Valve Calcification Is a Marker of Vascular Disease in Prevalent Hemodialysis Patients" is the title of Dr. Geoffrey Block's latest published article. It is an e-pub ahead-of-print with the issue date of June 28th 2011 from the Journal of Nephrology.
Dr. Block, P/SL nephrologist, states that vascular and valvular calcifications are a common finding in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and are associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Out of 145 maintenance CKD stage 5 patients, 58% had echocardiographic evidence of valvular calcification. Patients with one or two calcified valves had a significantly greater likelihood of having coronary artery calcification (CAC) and thoracic aorta calcification (CoA), as evidenced by their CAC and CoA scores. The analysis showed that calcification of the cardiac valves is closely associatied with vascualr cacification, an established marker of risk in prevalent hemodialysis patients.
You're welcome to stop by and pick up a copy of Dr. Block's article at the reference desk.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)