Pseudohypobicarbonatemia caused by an endogenous assay interferent: a new entity.

Serum total carbon dioxide, measured using a chemistry analyzer, and gas panel-derived plasma bicarbonate, calculated from the pH and partial pressure of carbon dioxide, often are used interchangeably for clinical purposes. When they disagree, there is a tendency to accept total carbon dioxide and discredit gas panel-derived plasma bicarbonate values. We report a patient who, during a 5-month hospitalization, had persistently low total carbon dioxide levels (12.

Effect of dialysis modality on plasma fibrinogen concentration: a meta-analysis.

Background: Concentrations of plasma fibrinogen, a vascular risk factor, tend to be greater in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) than hemodialysis (HD) therapy, like concentrations of serum cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), and transthyretin, despite the substantial loss of protein during PD. Worse vascular outcome has been noted in PD patients compared with HD patients in several studies.

Methods: In this study, the mean difference in plasma fibrinogen levels (PD-HD) was quantified by means of meta-analysis of mean differences found in 12 cohorts with both PD and HD patients (set 1; N = 630) by using a fixed-effects model and meta-analysis of mean fibrinogen values reported in 30 cohorts of patients on a single dialysis modality (set 2; 8 PD cohorts, 22 HD cohorts; N = 2,096) by using a mixed model.