Erythrocyte aluminum content (RBC-Al) was measured in a total of 133 subjects, 109 chronic renal failure (CRF) patients and 24 healthy volunteers. Eleven of the 109 CRF patients were pre-dialyzed patients undergoing conservative therapy, and 13 patients were in the induction phase of hemodialysis (HD). The other 85 patients had been on maintenance HD more than 1 year and were classified into two groups depending on whether they had a history of aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)₃) treatment. There were 61 patients in the Al(OH)₃ group and 24 patients in the no-Al(OH)₃ group.
Both RBC-Al content or the serum Al (S-Al) level were significantly elevated in the patients on maintenance HD, and the elevation in patients treated with Al(OH)₃ was clearly higher than in the patients untreated with Al(OH)₃.
RBC-Al was significantly higher in both pre-dialyzed patients and patients in the introduction of HD. S-Al, on the other hand, was not significantly elevated in either of these two patient groups.
The results of this study suggest that measurement of RBC-Al is more valuable than S-Al in evaluating Al toxicity in CRF patients.
From a practical viewpoint it was again shown that accumulation of Al in CRF patient remains a clinical problem that cannot be ignored.