Uremia and thrombotic microangiopathy: conditions that may havethe same manifestation

Jianjun Gao1, Lei Zhou, Jiamei Wei

  • 1Department of Nephrology, The 306th Hospital of Chinese PLA, Beijing, PR China.

Renal Failure
|February 1, 2013
PubMed

In this article, we present the case of a man with uremia. Laboratory testing revealed thrombocytopenia, erythrocyte fragmentation, elevated lactate dehydrogenase, and malignant hypertension, manifestations that are similar to thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). Thromboasthenia, manifested as a decrease in the platelet aggregation rate, was also noted. Regular hemodialysis (3 times per week) improved the patient's thrombocytopenia and thromboasthenia. This case supports the conclusion that uremic toxin, which can be removed by hemodialysis, inhibits the quantity and quality of platelets. We believe that the platelet aggregation rate can be a useful tool in distinguishing uremia from TMA.

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