Uremic neuropathy is a distal sensorimotor polyneuropathy caused by uremic toxins. The severity of neuropathy is correlated strongly with the severity of the renal insufficiency. The electrophysiological study is a sensitive test for diagnosis of neuropathy in patients with uremia. Objectives: (1) To assess the clinical characteristics and (2) to describe the electrodiagnostic abnormalities of neuropathy during the haemodialysis. Patients and method: Clinical examination, motor and sensory nerve conduction measurements and an H reflex study (via the Nicolet EMG machine) were performed in 32 non-diabetic uremic patients (16 men and 16 women, mean age 43.5+2.29), who were all treated with chronic maintenance haemodialysis. Results: The incidence of neuropathy in haemodialysis patients was 68.8% on clinical examination and was 96.9% on electrophysiological study. The abnormalities in clinical findings were altered motor-sensory function in 62.8%, predominantly impaired sensibility in 50%, loss of tendon reflexes in 37.5%, symptom of restless legs in 46.9% and carpal tunel syndrome in 9.4% of patients. In the electrophysiological parameters, compared with Vietnamese healthy index, the nerve conduction velocity of all tested nerves was decreased significantly (p<0.05), the highest abnormal rates was the sural nerve (75%), the tibial nerve (71%) and the peroneal nerve (69.4%); H-reflex was also significantly prolonged in 42.9%. Conclusion: The most haemodialysis patients showed clinical and electrophysiological evidence of uremic neuropathy. Electrophysiological findings showed more abnormalities than clinical examination for neuropathy showed on hemodialysis patients.
Renal Dialysis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Refractory Period ; Electrophysiological

Background: Dementia is a common pathological condition that affects older people. Most causes of dementia are Alzheimer\u2019s disease and vascular dementia. Diagnosing these conditions mostly relied on clinical patterns, but some biomarkers have been mentioned as the indicators of this condition. Objectives: 1) To evaluate the alteration of some biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from Alzheimer\u2019s patients. 2) To compare the concentration of biomarkers in CSF samples from patients with vascular dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Subjects and method: Case group involved 41 patients who were diagnosed as AD and vascular dementia based on DSM-IV criteria. 31 matched healthy people were included in control group. All subjects were given neuro-psychological tests and thorough clinical examination. Brain CT scan and MRI were done for both groups. CSF samples were taken from patients in the study group to measure levels of some biomarkers. Results. The levels of total taurine (T-tau) and phosphorylated taurine (P-tau) 181 proteins are higher in the dementia group. The concentration of Abeta-42 is significantly different between case and control groups, but similar between vascular dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s disease patients. Conclusion: Changes in biomarkers are valuable in different diagnosis of Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other types of dementia. However, findings of CSF studies have to be considered with findings from imaging studies and clinical examination.
Biomarker ; Dementia ; Alzheimer\u2019s disease