Schillinger F
Department of Nephrology and Hemodialysis, General Hospital, Troyes, France.
Eur J Med. 1993 Oct-Nov;2(8):457-60.
A cross-sectional study was undertaken in order to a) investigate the prevalence of acquired cystic kidney disease and the prevalence of associated cancer; b) evaluate the best diagnostic procedure; c) look for a possible relationship with improvement of anaemia.
All patients treated in 10 Dialysis Centres in the East of France, except those with polycystic kidney disease, were examined during the same 6-month period by echography and computed tomography scanning, when they were at initiation of dialysis (T0) or when they reached exactly 5 years (T5), 10 years (T10), 15 years or more (T15) of dialysis.
One hundred sixty-one patients were evaluated: 50 at T0, 48 at T5, 33 at T10 and 30 at T15.
a) Prevalence of acquired cystic kidney disease was 57.2%, ranging from 30% at T0 to 83.3% at T15; prevalence of associated cancer was 1.1%; b) computed tomography was the best diagnostic procedure, but when compared with it, echography had a sensibility of 0.88 and a specificity of 1; c) only in patients with large-sized cystic kidneys, there was an improvement of anaemia.
