Heparin-induced antibodies and cardiovascular risk in patients on dialysis.

The clinical relevance of heparin-induced antibodies (HIA) in the absence of thrombocytopenia remains to be defined. The aims of this study were (i) to determine the prevalence of HIA in patients treated by dialysis, (ii) to determine the prevalence of thrombocytopenia and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), and (iii) to test whether HIA are associated with adverse outcomes. Sera from 740 patients treated by hemodialysis (HD, n=596) and peritoneal dialysis (PD, n=144) were tested for HIA (IgG, IgA or IgM) by masked investigators at approximately six months after enrolment in the Choices for Healthy Outcomes in Caring for End-Stage Renal Disease (CHOICE) study.

Time trends in personnel certification and turnover in the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study.

Background: The purpose of this analysis was to examine and quantify the coordinating center workload in regard to certification and turnover of clinical personnel who participated in the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study (COMS).

Methods: The COMS was a set of multicenter, multidisciplinary randomized clinical trials conducted to evaluate radiotherapy for initial treatment of choroidal melanoma, a primary eye cancer. Patients were screened, enrolled, treated, and followed for mortality and clinical outcomes at 43 clinical centers in the United States and Canada, beginning late in 1986.