Parameters for successful monthly extended dosing of darbepoetin-alpha in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Aim: To document the feasibility and report the results of dosing darbepoetin-alpha at extended intervals up to once monthly (QM) in a large dialysis patient population.

Material: 175 adult patients treated, at 23 Swiss hemodialysis centres, with stable doses of any erythropoiesis-stimulating agent who were switched by their physicians to darbepoetin-alpha treatment at prolonged dosing intervals (every 2 weeks [Q2W] or QM).

Method: Multicentre, prospective, observational study.

Darbepoetin alpha in lower-than-equimolar doses maintains haemoglobin levels in stable haemodialysis patients converting from epoetin alpha/beta.

Background: The conversion of patients on stable epoetin therapy to darbepoetin alpha is usually carried out according to the '1 microg darbepoetin =200 U epoetin' rule, which is based on the protein content of the two compounds. Since several observations have suggested that this conversion factor leads to an overestimate of the required darbepoetin dose, the present multicentre study was designed to assess the true conversion ratio by prospectively evaluating the change in darbepoetin alpha dose after conversion from epoetin, which was required to keep haemoglobin (Hb) stable.

Methods: Haemodialysis patients with stable Hb and maintained on either s.

[One rare case report of acute renal insufficiency in rhabdomyolysis].

Mc Ardle's disease is a genetic glycogenosis characterized by the accumulation of glycogen in skeletal muscle secondary to the deficiency of muscle glycogen phosphorylase. The clinical consequences are an exercise intolerance with rapid muscle fatigue and muscle pain combined with a myoglobinuria. We report the medical story of a 45 years old man who suffers from Mc Ardle disease for ten years.

Loop-acting diuretics do not bind to Tamm-Horsfall urinary glycoprotein.

1. Binding between the radiolabelled loop-acting diuretics ([14C]frusemide, [14C]ethacrynic acid and [3H]bumetanide) and human Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein or human serum albumin in vitro was evaluated by equilibrium dialysis. 2.