Assessment of the validity of the frequently used lipid indices for predicting LDL peak particle diameter in a large cohort of 1955 normal and dyslipidemic subjects.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between commonly used lipid indices and LDL peak particle diameter (LDL-PPD) in a large cohort of 1955 subjects.

Design And Methods: Four statistical methods were used for comparison: correlation, concordance analysis, kappa statistics and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis.

Results: Plasma triglyceride (TG) levels, TG/HDL-C, LDL-C/apoB, total cholesterol (TC)/TG, LDL-C/TG, and TG/apoB ratios were best correlated with LDL-PPD but none of these ratios accounted for more than 45% of the variation in LDL-PPD.

Endovascular treatment of immature, dysfunctional and thrombosed forearm autogenous ulnar-basilic and radial-basilic fistulas for haemodialysis.

Background: Forearm basilic fistulas are rarely used as vascular accesses for haemodialysis but they represent a valuable option when autogenous radial-cephalic fistulas cannot be performed. There is no information in the literature to date about the outcome of direct ulnar-basilic or transposed radial-basilic forearm autogenous fistulas after endovascular treatment of stenosis or thrombosis.

Methods: This retrospective study included 78 consecutive patients from eight dialysis units who were referred to a single interventional radiology centre for endovascular treatment of delayed maturation (n = 30), dysfunction (n = 35) or thrombosis (n = 13) of their autogenous forearm ulnar-basilic (n = 62) or radial-basilic fistulas (n = 16).