Journal article
Lateral lumbar X-ray assessment of abdominal aortic calcification in Australian haemodialysis patients
ND Toussaint, E Pedagogos, KK Lau, S Heinze, GJ Becker, J Beavis, KR Polkinghorne, MJ Damasiewicz, PG Kerr
Nephrology | Published : 2011
Abstract
Aim: Vascular calcification is prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease. Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) can be detected by X-ray, although AAC is less well documented in anatomical distribution and severity compared with coronary calcification. Using simple radiological imaging we aimed to assess AAC and determine associations in prevalent Australian haemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: Lateral lumbar X-ray of the abdominal aorta was used to determine AAC, which is related to the severity of calcific deposits at lumbar vertebral segments L1 to L4. Two radiologists determined AAC scores, by semi-quantitative measurement using a validated 24-point scale, on HD patients from sev..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Brian Livingston (ANZDATA) for his assistance with obtaining patient information from registry data. NT is the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) Fellowship. Although this Fellowship is supported by NHMRC the views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the NHMRC.