Prevalence of hypercalcitoninemia in patients on maintenance dialysis referred to kidney transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Elevated calcitonin concentrations in dialysis patients had led to thyroidectomy for a benign C-cell hyperplasia in dozens of patients in the past decade. The prevalence of hypercalcitoninemia, however, has not been examined in a large cohort of dialysis patients.


METHODS
We, therefore, measured calcitonin concentrations in 283 dialysis patients. We used different reference intervals: according to the threshold to perform further stimulation tests (i.e. > 10 pg/ml) and new reference intervals for the currently used assay (i.e. serum calcitonin concentration < 11.5 pg/ml in men and < 4.6 pg/ml in women).


RESULTS
Median calcitonin concentrations of men and women were 12 (1; 290) pg/ml vs 2 pg/ml (1; 45), respectively, (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of hypercalcitoninemia was 10% in women and 58% in men using a cut-off of 10 pg/ml. Applying the new reference intervals 31% of women and 54% of men presented with hypercalcitoninemia. All patients with basal calcitonin concentrations above 50 pg/ml were men (highest calcitonin concentration was 290 pg/ml). Two of them underwent thyroidectomy and had C-cell hyperplasia.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of hypercalcitoninemia in dialysis patients amounts to 46%. It is more common in male than in female dialysis patients.
Akan
B
B
Department of Medicine III, Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Medical University Vienna, Wien, Austria.
Böhmig
G
G
Sunder-Plassmann
G
G
Borchhardt
K A
KA
D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013965:Thyroidectomy
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002116:Calcitonin