Summary
Nine dialysis patients with significantly increased serum-aluminum levels due to chronic ingestion of aluminum hydroxide gels and eleven dialysis patients with normal serum-aluminum levels were tested neuropsychologically for generalized functions (intelligence, reasoning, memory) and for more specific abilities (visual memory, verbal and reading fluency, manual dexterity). All tests did not reveal any significant difference in neuropsychological functioning between the two groups. This finding seems to indicate that oral aluminum is not neurotoxic for man, even under circumstance of renal failure. This contradicts the idea that oral aluminum plays a role in the etiology of dialysis dementia. However, the possibility cannot be excluded that aluminum overload in the present sample was not sufficient to induce changes in CNS functioning. Thus, until the importance of oral aluminum has been decided, it seems wise to keep all sources of aluminum overload as low as possible.
Zusammenfassung
Von einigen Autoren wird als Ursache der Demenz bei dialysierten Patienten die chronische Zufuhr von Aluminiumsalzen angenommen. Es fehlt jedoch bis heute ein eindeutiger Beweis für die neurotoxische Wirkung dieser Salze. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die neuropsychologischen Leistungen bei Gruppen von dialysierten Patienten verglichen: in der ersten Gruppe war die Konzentration der Aluminiumsalze im Blute sehr hoch, in der zweiten Gruppe im Normbereich. Es wurden keine statistisch signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Gruppen nachgewiesen. Diese Ergebnisse sprechen nicht für eine direkte toxische Wirkung der Aluminiumsalze auf das zentrale Nervensystem. Es ist allerdings möglich, daß die bei den vorliegenden Patienten verabreichten Aluminiumdosen zu niedrig waren, um die neuropsychologischen Leistungen zu verändern. Immerhin ist es empfehlenswert — bis zu Erhalt genauer Ergebnisse über die Rolle des Aluminiums bei der Demenz der Dialysierten — niedrige Aluminiumdosen zu verabreichen.
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Part of this investigation was presented at the XVI EDTA Congress, Amsterdam, June 1979, and at the XXI Congress of the Italian Society of Neurology, Catania, November 1979
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Rosati, G., De Bastiani, P., Gilli, P. et al. Oral aluminum and neuropsychological functioning. J. Neurol. 223, 251–257 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00313339
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00313339