Correlation between blood prostaglandins, plasma lipids and atherosclerosis in dialyzed patients

The correlations between the degree of atherosclerosis, plasma prostaglandins (PGs) and plasma lipids were examined in maintenance hemodialyzed patients with and without diabetes mellitus. The degree of atherosclerosis was evaluated by pulse wave velocity (PWV) of the aorta. Plasma PGs were radioimmunoassayed. PWV was significantly higher in hemodialyzed patients compared to sex- and age-matched healthy controls. PWV correlated with the plasma thromboxane A2 (TXB2) level and TXB2/6-keto-PGF1 alpha ratio in hemodialyzed patients, without a significant difference between the diabetic and nondiabetic groups. The plasma lipid profile was type IV of the WHO classification in both the diabetic and nondiabetic groups, and PWV did not correlate with these lipid abnormalities. Though not significantly, the decreases in plasma PGE2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and the increase in TXB2 correlated with the degree of type IV hyperlipidemia. The results suggest that plasma PG abnormalities might correlate with the degree of atherosclerosis in hemodialyzed patients.