title: Progression of coronary artery calcification after kidney transplantation.
abstract: Calcification of coronary vessels progresses rapidly in hemodialysis (HD) patients and comprises a strong predictor of cardiovascular events. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the coronary artery calcification (CAC) in patients with end stage renal disease undergoing regular HD and to determine the effect of renal transplantation (RT) in the progression of CAC, using the Agatston technique for calcium scoring. The study included 20 patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing a regular HD treatment (16 males, 4 females) 54.1 ± 9.5 years old who had just received a renal transplant and 16 more HD patients (11 males, 5 females) 54.4 ± 13.8 years old as control group. The baseline evaluation showed a very high prevalence of CAC in both groups, which was positively correlated with age (p < 0.001) and CRP (p = 0.03). The second (follow-up) evaluation showed a significant slower progression of calcification after RT. In both groups, high calcium score values in the follow-up evaluation had a strong positive correlation with baseline calcium score (p < 0.001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece. kostasadamidis@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: Konstantinos N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Adamidis
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pleros
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oikonomaki
authors.forename: Irini
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kyratzi
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Exarchos
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Metaxatos
authors.forename: Spyros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Drakopoulos
authors.forename: Nikoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikolopoulou
authors.forename: Theophanis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Apostolou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D061205:Vascular Calcification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control